Primary alcohol producing organisms

ABSTRACT

The invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism having a microbial organism having at least one exogenous gene insertion and/or one or more gene disruptions that confer production of primary alcohols. A method for producing long chain alcohols includes culturing these non-naturally occurring microbial organisms.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/168,833, filed Jun. 24, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,260,729, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/398,996, filed Mar.5, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,977,084, which claims priority under 35U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 61/034,146,filed Mar. 5, 2008; U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 61/090,171,filed Aug. 19, 2008; and U.S. Provisional application Ser. No.61/110,500, filed Oct. 31, 2008, each of which the entire contents isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to biosynthetic processes and, morespecifically to organisms having primary alcohol biosyntheticcapability.

Primary alcohols are a product class of compounds having a variety ofindustrial applications which include a variety of biofuels andspecialty chemicals. Primary alcohols also can be used to make a largenumber of additional industrial products including polymers andsurfactants. For example, higher primary alcohols (C₄-C₂₀) and theirethoxylates are used as surfactants in many consumer detergents,cleaning products and personal care products worldwide such as laundrypowders and liquids, dishwashing liquid and hard surface cleaners. Theyare also used in the manufacture of a variety of industrial chemicalsand in lubricating oil additives. Long-chain primary alcohols, such asoctanol and hexanol, have useful organoleptic properties and have longbeen employed as fragrance and flavor materials. Smaller chain (C4-C8)higher primary alcohols (e.g., butanol) are used as chemicalintermediates for production of derivatives such as acrylates used inpaints, coatings, and adhesives applications.

Primary alcohols are currently produced from, for example, hydrogenationof fatty acids, hydroformylation of terminal olefins, partial oxidationof n-paraffins and the Al-catalyzed polymerization of ethylene.Unfortunately, it is not commercially viable to produce primary alcoholsdirectly from the oxidation of petroleum-based linear hydrocarbons(n-paraffins). This impracticality is because the oxidation ofn-paraffins produces primarily secondary alcohols, tertiary alcohols orketones, or a mixture of these compounds, but does not produce highyields of primary alcohols. Additionally, currently known methods forproducing primary alcohols suffer from the disadvantage that they arerestricted to feedstock which is relatively expensive, notably ethylene,which is produced via the thermal cracking of petroleum. In addition,current methods require several steps, and several catalyst types.

LCA production by microorganisms involves fatty acid synthesis followedby acyl-reduction steps. The universal fatty acid biosynthesis pathwayfound in most cells has been investigated for production of LCAs andother fatty acid derivatives. There is currently a great deal ofimprovement that can be achieved to provide more efficient biosynthesispathways for LCA production with significantly higher theoreticalproduct and energy yields.

Thus, there exists a need for alternative means for effectivelyproducing commercial quantities of primary alcohols. The presentinvention satisfies this need and provides related advantages as well.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In some aspects, embodiments disclosed herein relate to a non-naturallyoccurring microbial organism having a microbial organism having amalonyl-CoA-independent fatty acid synthesis (FAS) pathway and anacyl-reduction pathway having at least one exogenous nucleic acidencoding a malonyl-CoA-independent FAS pathway enzyme expressed insufficient amounts to produce a primary alcohol, themalonyl-CoA-independent FAS pathway having ketoacyl-CoA acyltransferaseor ketoacyl-CoA thiolase, 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase, enoyl-CoAhydratase and enoyl-CoA reductase, the acyl-reduction pathway having anacyl-CoA reductase and an alcohol dehydrogenase.

In other aspects, embodiments disclosed herein relate to a method forproducing a primary alcohol. The method includes culturing anon-naturally occurring microbial organism have having amalonyl-CoA-independent fatty acid synthesis (FAS) pathway and anacyl-reduction pathway having at least one exogenous nucleic acidencoding a malonyl-CoA-independent FAS pathway enzyme expressed insufficient amounts to produce a primary alcohol under substantiallyanaerobic conditions for a sufficient period of time to produce theprimary alcohol, the malonyl-CoA-independent FAS pathway havingketoacyl-CoA acyltransferase or ketoacyl-CoA thiolase, 3-hydroxyacyl-CoAdehydrogenase, enoyl-CoA hydratase and enoyl-CoA reductase, theacyl-reduction pathway having an acyl-CoA reductase and an alcoholdehydrogenase.

In some aspects, embodiments disclosed herein relate to a non-naturallyoccurring microbial organism that includes one or more gene disruptionsoccurring in genes encoding enzymes that couple long-chain alcohol (LCA)production to growth of the non-naturally occurring microbial organism.In other embodiments, LCA production can be accomplished duringnon-growth phases using the same disruption strategies. The one or moregene disruptions reduce the activity of the enzyme, whereby the genedisruptions confer production of LCA onto the non-naturally occurringmicrobial organism.

In other aspects, embodiments disclosed herein relate to a method forproducing LCA that includes culturing a non-naturally occurringmicrobial organism having one or more gene disruptions. The one or moregene disruptions occur in genes encoding an enzyme that confers LCAproduction in the organism.

In some aspects, embodiments disclosed herein relate to a non-naturallyoccurring eukaryotic organism, that includes one or more genedisruptions. The one or more gene disruptions occur in genes that encodeenzymes such as a cytosolic pyruvate decarboxylase, a mitochondrialpyruvate dehydrogenase, a cytosolic ethanol-specific alcoholdehydrogenase and a mitochondrial ethanol-specific alcoholdehydrogenase. These disruptions confer production of long chainalcohols in the cytosol of the organism.

In some aspects, embodiments disclosed herein relate to a non-naturallyoccurring eukaryotic organism that includes one or more genedisruptions. The one or more gene disruptions occur in genes encodingenzymes such as a cytosolic pyruvate decarboxylase, a cytosolicethanol-specific alcohol dehydrogenase, and a mitochondrialethanol-specific alcohol dehydrogenase. These disruptions conferproduction of long chain alcohols in the mitochondrion of said organism.

In other aspects, embodiments disclosed herein relate to a method forproducing long chain alcohols, including culturing these non-naturallyoccurring eukaryotic organisms.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the malonyl-CoA-independent fatty acid synthesis andreduction (MI-LCA) pathway to produce LCAs.

FIG. 2 shows the contrasted hypothetical production envelopes of anOptKnock-designed strain against a typical non-growth-coupled productionstrain. The potential evolutionary trajectories of the OptKnock strainlead to a high producing phenotype.

FIG. 3 shows the growth-coupled LCA production characteristics of straindesign I (alternating dotted and dashed) compared with those ofwild-type E. coli (black). A glucose uptake rate of 10 mmol/gDW/hr isassumed.

FIG. 4 shows the growth-coupled LCA production characteristics of straindesigns II (alternating dotted and dashed), III-V (dashed), and VI-XI(dotted) compared with those of wild-type E. coli (black). A glucoseuptake rate of 10 mmol/gDW/hr is assumed.

FIG. 5 shows the growth-coupled LCA production characteristics of straindesigns XII (alternating dotted and dashed) and XIII-XV (dashed)compared with those of wild-type E. coli (black). A glucose uptake rateof 10 mmol/gDW/hr is assumed.

FIG. 6 shows the growth-coupled LCA production characteristics of straindesigns XVI-XVIII (alternating dotted and dashed) and XIX-XXI (dashed)compared with those of wild-type E. coli (black). A glucose uptake rateof 10 mmol/gDW/hr is assumed.

FIG. 7 shows the growth-coupled LCA production characteristics ofDesigns I (alternating dotted and dashed), V (dashed), and V_A (dotted)compared with those of wild-type E. coli (black). A glucose uptake rateof 10 mmol/gDW/hr is assumed. Point A refers to the dodecanol productionrate at maximum growth of a strain engineered according to design V_Aand point B refers to the minimal dodecanol production rate required forgrowth.

FIG. 8 shows the growth-coupled LCA production characteristics ofDesigns I (alternating dotted and dashed, XII (long dashed), XII_A(short dashed), and XII_B (dotted) compared with those of wild-type E.coli (black). A glucose uptake rate of 10 mmol/gDW/hr is assumed. PointA refers to the dodecanol production rate at maximum growth of a strainengineered according to design XII_B and point B refers to the minimaldodecanol production rate required for growth.

FIG. 9a shows the formation of dodecanol in the cytosol by relying onthe AMP-forming acetyl CoA synthetase for the formation of acetyl CoAfor dodecanol production. The dotted arrows depict the flow of themajority of the carbon flux in this production scenario.

FIG. 9b shows the growth-coupled production envelopes for the productionof dodecanol in S. cerevisiae in the scenario where acetyl CoAsynthetase is used for acetyl CoA production in the cytosol. The blackcurve shows the production envelope for the wild-type network underaerobic conditions, and the dark gray curve shows the growth-coupledproduction characteristics for the mutant network. A glucose uptake rateof 10 mmol/gDCW.hr is assumed.

FIG. 10a shows the formation of dodecanol in the cytosol by relying onthe ADP-forming acetate CoA ligase for the formation of acetyl CoA fordodecanol production. The gray arrow represents the addition of aheterologous enzyme. The dotted arrows depict the flow of the majorityof the carbon flux in this production scenario.

FIG. 10b shows the growth-coupled production envelopes for theproduction of dodecanol in S. cerevisiae in the scenario where acetateCoA ligase is employed for acetyl-CoA production in the cytosol. Theblack curve shows the production envelope for the wild-type networkunder aerobic conditions. The light gray curve shows the increase infeasible space after acetate CoA ligase is added to the network and thedark gray curve shows the growth-coupled production characteristics forthe mutant network in the presence of oxygen. A glucose uptake rate of10 mmol/gDCW·hr is assumed.

FIG. 11a shows the formation of dodecanol in the cytosol by relying onthe acylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase for the formation of acetyl CoAfor dodecanol production. The gray arrow shows a heterologous enzyme.The dotted arrows depict the flow of the majority of the carbon flux inthis production scenario.

FIG. 11b shows the growth-coupled production envelopes for the anaerobicproduction of dodecanol in S. cerevisiae. The black curve shows theproduction capabilities for the wild-type network, the light gray dottedcurve shows the production characteristics when acylating acetaldehydedehydrogenase is added to the network and the dark gray curve shows thegrowth-coupling when alcohol dehydrogenase is deleted from the augmentednetwork. Note the increase in the theoretical maximum when acylatingacetaldehyde dehydrogenase is functional. A glucose uptake rate of 10mmol/gDCW.hr is assumed.

FIG. 12 shows the formation of dodecanol in the cytosol by relying on acytosolic pyruvate dehydrogenase for acetyl CoA and NADH production.This can be accomplished by introducing a heterologous cytosolic enzyme(shown in gray) or by retargeting the native mitochondrial enzyme to thecytosol. The dotted arrows depict the flow of the majority of the carbonflux in this production scenario.

FIG. 13 shows the formation of dodecanol in the cytosol by relying on acytosolic pyruvate:NADP oxidoreductase for acetyl CoA and NADHproduction. This can be accomplished by introducing a heterologousenzyme in the cytosol (shown in gray). The dotted arrows depict the flowof the majority of the carbon flux in this production scenario.

FIG. 14 shows the formation of dodecanol in the cytosol by theintroduction of a heterologous pyruvate formate lyase (shown in gray) inthe cytosol. The dotted arrows depict the flow of the majority of thecarbon flux in this production scenario.

FIG. 15a shows the formation of dodecanol in the mitochondrion by usingthe pyruvate dehydrogenase for the formation of acetyl-CoA. The dottedarrows depict the flow of the majority of the carbon flux in thisproduction scenario.

FIG. 15b shows the growth-coupled production envelopes for theproduction of dodecanol in S. cerevisiae mitochondrion. The black curveshows the production capabilities for the wild-type network underanaerobic conditions and the dark gray curve shows the productioncharacteristics in the absence of oxygen when pyruvate decarboxylase isdeleted from the network. A glucose uptake rate of 10 mmol/gDCW·hr isassumed.

FIG. 16 shows the formation of dodecanol in the mitochondrion by usingthe pyruvate:NADP oxidoreductase for formation of acetyl CoA. The grayarrow shows the heterologous enzyme and the dotted arrows depict theflow of the majority of the carbon flux in this production scenario.

FIG. 17 shows the formation of dodecanol in the mitochondrion by usingthe pyruvate formate lyase for formation of acetyl CoA. The gray arrowshows the heterologous enzyme and the dotted arrows depict the flow ofthe majority of the carbon flux in this production scenario.

FIG. 18 shows the formation of dodecanol in the mitochondrion by addingthe mitochondrial acylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase. The gray arrowshows the heterologous enzyme(s) and the dotted arrows depict the flowof the majority of the carbon flux in this production scenario.

FIG. 19a shows the formation of dodecanol in the mitochondrion by usingthe acetyl CoA synthetase for formation of acetyl CoA. The gray arrowshows the heterologous enzyme(s) and the dotted arrows depict the flowof the majority of the carbon flux in this production scenario.

FIG. 19b shows the growth-coupled production envelopes for theproduction of dodecanol in S. cerevisiae mitochondrion when acetyl-CoAis formed through the mitochondrial acetyl-CoA synthetase. The blackcurve shows the production envelope for the wild-type network underaerobic conditions, the light dark gray curve shows the productioncharacteristics when the deletions have been imposed upon the network.The growth coupling can be improved further (dark gray curve) when fluxthrough the oxidative part of the pentose phosphate pathway isdecreased. A glucose uptake rate of 10 mmol/gDCW·hr is assumed.

FIG. 20 shows the formation of dodecanol in the mitochondrion by usingthe acetate CoA ligase for formation of acetyl CoA. The gray arrows showthe heterologous enzyme(s) and the dotted arrows depict the flow of themajority of the carbon flux in this production scenario

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention is directed, in part, to recombinant microorganismscapable of synthesizing the primary alcohols using amalonyl-CoA-independent fatty acid synthesis and reduction pathway. Themodified microorganisms of the invention also are capable of secretingthe resultant primary alcohol into the culture media or fermentationbroth for further manipulation or isolation. Recombinant microorganismsof the invention can be engineered to produce commercial quantities of avariety of different primary alcohols having different chain lengthsbetween 4 (C4) and 24 (C24) or more carbon atoms. Production of primaryalcohols through the modified pathways of the invention is particularlyuseful because it results in higher product and ATP yields than throughnaturally occurring biosynthetic pathways such as the well-documentedmalonyl-CoA dependent fatty acid synthesis pathway. Using acetyl-CoA asa C2 extension unit instead of malonyl-acyl carrier protein(malonyl-ACP) saves one ATP molecule per unit flux of acetyl-CoAentering the elongation cycle. The elongation cycle results in acyl-CoAinstead of acyl-ACP, and precludes the need of the ATP-consumingacyl-CoA synthase reactions for the production of octanol and otherprimary alcohols. The primary alcohol producing organisms of theinvention can additionally allow the use of biosynthetic processes toconvert low cost renewable feedstock for the manufacture of chemicalproducts.

In one specific embodiment, the invention utilizes a heterologousmalonyl-CoA-independent fatty acid synthesis pathway coupled with anacyl-CoA reduction pathway to form primary alcohol species. The couplingof these two pathways will convert a carbon or energy source intoacetyl-CoA, which is used as both primer and extension unit inbiosynthetic elongation cycle. The elongation cycle includesketoacyl-CoA thiolase (or ketoacyl-CoA acyltransferase),3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase, enoyl-CoA hydratase and enoyl-CoAreductase. Each cycle results in the formation of an acyl-CoA extendedby one C2 unit compared to the acyl-CoA substrate entering theelongation cycle. Carbon chain-length of the primary alcohols can becontrolled by chain-length specific enoyl-CoA reductase, ketoacyl-CoAthiolase and/or acyl-CoA reductase. Acyl-CoA products with desiredchain-lengths are funneled into a reduction pathway and reduced throughthe combination of acyl-CoA reductase and alcohol dehydrogenase or thefatty alcohol forming acyl-CoA reductase to form desired primaryalcohol. These reduction steps serve as another mechanism for control ofchain length, for example, through the use of chain-length specificacyl-CoA reductases.

As used herein, the term “non-naturally occurring” when used inreference to a microbial organism or microorganism of the invention isintended to mean that the microbial organism has at least one geneticalteration not normally found in a naturally occurring strain of thereferenced species, including wild-type strains of the referencedspecies. Genetic alterations include, for example, modificationsintroducing expressible nucleic acids encoding metabolic polypeptides,other nucleic acid additions, nucleic acid deletions and/or otherfunctional disruption of the microbial genetic material. Suchmodifications include, for example, coding regions and functionalfragments thereof, for heterologous, homologous or both heterologous andhomologous polypeptides for the referenced species. Additionalmodifications include, for example, non-coding regulatory regions inwhich the modifications alter expression of a gene or operon. Exemplarymetabolic polypeptides include enzymes within a malonyl-CoA-independentfatty acid biosynthetic pathway and enzymes within an acyl-reductionpathway.

As used herein, the term “isolated” when used in reference to amicrobial organism is intended to mean an organism that is substantiallyfree of at least one component as the referenced microbial organism isfound in nature. The term includes a microbial organism that is removedfrom some or all components as it is found in its natural environment.The term also includes a microbial organism that is removed from some orall components as the microbial organism is found in non-naturallyoccurring environments. Therefore, an isolated microbial organism ispartly or completely separated from other substances as it is found innature or as it is grown, stored or subsisted in non-naturally occurringenvironments. Specific examples of isolated microbial organisms includepartially pure microbes, substantially pure microbes and microbescultured in a medium that is non-naturally occurring.

As used herein, the terms “microbial,” “microbial organism” or“microorganism” is intended to mean any organism that exists as amicroscopic cell that is included within the domains of archaea,bacteria or eukarya. Therefore, the term is intended to encompassprokaryotic or eukaryotic cells or organisms having a microscopic sizeand includes bacteria, archaea and eubacteria of all species as well aseukaryotic microorganisms such as yeast and fungi. The term alsoincludes cell cultures of any species that can be cultured for theproduction of a biochemical.

As used herein, the term “primary alcohol” is intended to mean analcohol which has the hydroxyl radical connected to a primary carbon.The term includes an alcohol that possesses the group —CH₂OH which canbe oxidized so as to form a corresponding aldehyde and acid having thesame number of carbon atoms. Alcohols include any of a series ofhydroxyl compounds, the simplest of which are derived from saturatedhydrocarbons, have the general formula C_(n)H_(2n)+1OH, and includeethanol and methanol. Exemplary primary alcohols include butanol,hexanol, heptanol, octanol, nananol, decanol, dodecanol, tetradecanol,and hexadecanol.

As used herein, the term “CoA” or “coenzyme A” is intended to mean anorganic cofactor or prosthetic group (nonprotein portion of an enzyme)whose presence is required for the activity of many enzymes (theapoenzyme) to form an active enzyme system. Coenzyme A functions, forexample, in certain condensing enzymes, acts in acetyl or other acylgroup transfer and in fatty acid synthesis and oxidation.

As used herein, the term “substantially anaerobic” when used inreference to a culture or growth condition is intended to mean that theamount of oxygen is less than about 10% of saturation for dissolvedoxygen in liquid media. The term also is intended to include sealedchambers of liquid or solid medium maintained with an atmosphere of lessthan about 1% oxygen.

“Exogenous” as it is used herein is intended to mean that the referencedmolecule or the referenced activity is introduced into the hostmicrobial organism. Therefore, the term as it is used in reference toexpression of an encoding nucleic acid refers to introduction of theencoding nucleic acid in an expressible form into the microbialorganism. When used in reference to a biosynthetic activity, the termrefers to an activity that is introduced into the host referenceorganism. The source can be, for example, a homologous or heterologousencoding nucleic acids that expresses the referenced activity followingintroduction into the host microbial organism. Therefore, the term“endogenous” refers to a referenced molecule or activity that is presentin the host. Similarly, the term when used in reference to expression ofan encoding nucleic acid refers to expression of an encoding nucleicacid contained within the microbial organism. The term “heterologous”refers to a molecule or activity derived from a source other than thereferenced species whereas “homologous” refers to a molecule or activityderived from the host microbial organism. Accordingly, exogenousexpression of an encoding nucleic acid of the invention can utilizeeither or both a heterologous or homologous encoding nucleic acid.

As used herein, the term “growth-coupled” when used in reference to theproduction of a biochemical is intended to mean that the biosynthesis ofthe referenced biochemical is a product produced during the growth phaseof a microorganism. “Non-growth-coupled when used in reference to theproduction of a biochemical is intended to mean that the biosynthesis ofthe referenced biochemical is a product produced during a non-growthphase of a microorganism. Production of a biochemical product can beoptionally obligatory to the growth of the organism.

As used herein, the term “metabolic modification” is intended to referto a biochemical reaction that is altered from its naturally occurringstate. Metabolic modifications can include, for example, elimination ofa biochemical reaction activity by functional disruptions of one or moregenes encoding an enzyme participating in the reaction. Sets ofexemplary metabolic modifications are illustrated in Table 1. Individualreactions specified by such metabolic modifications and theircorresponding gene complements are exemplified in Table 2 forEscherichia coli. Reactants and products utilized in these reactions areexemplified in Table 3.

As used herein, the term “gene disruption,” or grammatical equivalentsthereof, is intended to mean a genetic alteration that renders theencoded gene product inactive. The genetic alteration can be, forexample, deletion of the entire gene, deletion of a regulatory sequencerequired for transcription or translation, deletion of a portion of thegene with results in a truncated gene product or by any of variousmutation strategies that inactivate the encoded gene product. Oneparticularly useful method of gene disruption is complete gene deletionbecause it reduces or eliminates the occurrence of genetic reversions inthe non-naturally occurring microorganisms of the invention. The term“gene disruption” is also intended to mean a genetic alteration thatlowers the activity of a given gene product relative to its activity ina wild-type organism. This attenuation of activity can be due to, forexample, a deletion in a portion of the gene which results in atruncated gene product or any of various mutation strategies that renderthe encoded gene product less active than its natural form, replacementor mutation of the promoter sequence leading to lower or less efficientexpression of the gene, culturing the organism under a condition wherethe gene is less highly expressed than under normal culture conditions,or introducing antisense RNA molecules that interact with complementarymRNA molecules of the gene and alter its expression.

As used herein, the term “stable” when used in reference togrowth-coupled production of a biochemical product is intended to referto microorganism that can be cultured for greater than five generationswithout loss of the coupling between growth and biochemical synthesis.Generally, stable growth-coupled biochemical production will be greaterthan 10 generations, particularly stable growth-coupled biochemicalproduction will be greater than about 25 generations, and moreparticularly, stable growth-coupled biochemical production will begreater than 50 generations, including indefinitely. Stablegrowth-coupled production of a biochemical can be achieved, for example,by disruption of a gene encoding an enzyme catalyzing each reactionwithin a set of metabolic modifications. The stability of growth-coupledproduction of a biochemical can be enhanced through multipledisruptions, significantly reducing the likelihood of multiplecompensatory reversions occurring for each disrupted activity.

Those skilled in the art will understand that the metabolicmodifications exemplified herein are described with reference toEscherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisae genes and theircorresponding metabolic reactions. However, given the complete genomesequencing of a wide variety of organisms and the high level of skill inthe area of genomics, those skilled in the art will readily be able toapply the teachings and guidance provided herein to essentially allother organisms. For example, the Escherichia coli metabolic alterationsexemplified herein can readily be applied to other species byincorporating the same or analogous gene disruptions in the otherspecies. Such disruptions can include, for example, genetic alterationsof species homologs, in general, and in particular, orthologs, paralogsor nonorthologous gene displacements.

As used herein, the term “confers production” refers not only toorganisms that lack operational metabolic pathways for the production ofLCAs, but also to organisms that may have some level of production ofLCAs. Thus, an organism that already generates LCAs can benefit fromimproved production conferred onto the organism by the disruption of oneor more genes.

As used herein, the term “eukaryotic organism” refers to any organismhaving a cell type having specialized organelles in the cytoplasm and amembrane-bound nucleus enclosing genetic material organized intochromosomes. The term is intended to encompass all eukaryotic organismsincluding eukaryotic microbial organisms such as yeast and fungi. Theterm also includes cell cultures of any eukaryotic species that can becultured for the production of a biochemical where the eukaryoticspecies need not be a microbial organism. A “eukaryotic microbialorganism,” “microbial organism” or “microorganism” is intended to meanany eukaryotic organism that exists as a microscopic cell that isincluded within the domain of eukarya.

An ortholog is a gene or genes that are related by vertical descent andare responsible for substantially the same or identical functions indifferent organisms. For example, mouse epoxide hydrolase and humanepoxide hydrolase can be considered orthologs for the biologicalfunction of hydrolysis of epoxides. Genes are related by verticaldescent when, for example, they share sequence similarity of sufficientamount to indicate they are homologous, or related by evolution from acommon ancestor. Genes can also be considered orthologs if they sharethree-dimensional structure but not necessarily sequence similarity, ofa sufficient amount to indicate that they have evolved from a commonancestor to the extent that the primary sequence similarity is notidentifiable. Genes that are orthologous can encode proteins withsequence similarity of about 25% to 100% amino acid sequence identity.Genes encoding proteins sharing an amino acid similarity less that 25%can also be considered to have arisen by vertical descent if theirthree-dimensional structure also shows similarities. Members of theserine protease family of enzymes, including tissue plasminogenactivator and elastase, are considered to have arisen by verticaldescent from a common ancestor.

Orthologs include genes or their encoded gene products that through, forexample, evolution, have diverged in structure or overall activity. Forexample, where one species encodes a gene product exhibiting twofunctions and where such functions have been separated into distinctgenes in a second species, the three genes and their correspondingproducts are considered to be orthologs. For the growth-coupledproduction of a biochemical product, those skilled in the art willunderstand that the orthologous gene harboring the metabolic activity tobe disrupted is to be chosen for construction of the non-naturallyoccurring microorganism. An example of orthologs exhibiting separableactivities is where distinct activities have been separated intodistinct gene products between two or more species or within a singlespecies. A specific example is the separation of elastase proteolysisand plasminogen proteolysis, two types of serine protease activity, intodistinct molecules as plasminogen activator and elastase. A secondexample is the separation of mycoplasma 5′-3′ exonuclease and DrosophilaDNA polymerase III activity. The DNA polymerase from the first speciescan be considered an ortholog to either or both of the exonuclease orthe polymerase from the second species and vice versa.

In contrast, paralogs are homologs related by, for example, duplicationfollowed by evolutionary divergence and have similar or common, but notidentical functions. Paralogs can originate or derive from, for example,the same species or from a different species. For example, microsomalepoxide hydrolase (epoxide hydrolase I) and soluble epoxide hydrolase(epoxide hydrolase II) can be considered paralogs because they representtwo distinct enzymes, co-evolved from a common ancestor, that catalyzedistinct reactions and have distinct functions in the same species.Paralogs are proteins from the same species with significant sequencesimilarity to each other suggesting that they are homologous, or relatedthrough co-evolution from a common ancestor. Groups of paralogousprotein families include HipA homologs, luciferase genes, peptidases,and others.

A nonorthologous gene displacement is a nonorthologous gene from onespecies that can substitute for a referenced gene function in adifferent species. Substitution includes, for example, being able toperform substantially the same or a similar function in the species oforigin compared to the referenced function in the different species.Although generally, a nonorthologous gene displacement will beidentifiable as structurally related to a known gene encoding thereferenced function, less structurally related but functionally similargenes and their corresponding gene products nevertheless will still fallwithin the meaning of the term as it is used herein. Functionalsimilarity requires, for example, at least some structural similarity inthe active site or binding region of a nonorthologous gene compared to agene encoding the function sought to be substituted. Therefore, anonorthologous gene includes, for example, a paralog or an unrelatedgene.

Therefore, in identifying and constructing the non-naturally occurringmicrobial organisms of the invention having growth-coupled production ofa biochemical, those skilled in the art will understand applying theteaching and guidance provided herein to a particular species that theidentification of metabolic modifications should include identificationand disruption of orthologs. To the extent that paralogs and/ornonorthologous gene displacements are present in the referencedmicroorganism that encode an enzyme catalyzing a similar orsubstantially similar metabolic reaction, those skilled in the art alsocan disrupt these evolutionally related genes to ensure that anyfunctional redundancy in enzymatic activities do not short circuit thedesigned metabolic modifications.

Orthologs, paralogs and nonorthologous gene displacements can bedetermined by methods well known to those skilled in the art. Forexample, inspection of nucleic acid or amino acid sequences for twopolypeptides will reveal sequence identity and similarities between thecompared sequences. Based on such similarities, one skilled in the artcan determine if the similarity is sufficiently high to indicate theproteins are related through evolution from a common ancestor.Algorithms well known to those skilled in the art, such as Align, BLAST,Clustal W and others compared and determine a raw sequence similarity oridentity, and also determine the presence or significance of gaps in thesequence which can be assigned a weight or score. Such algorithms alsoare known in the art and are similarly applicable for determiningnucleotide sequence similarity or identity. Parameters for sufficientsimilarly to determine relatedness are computed based on well knownmethods for calculating statistical similarity, or the chance of findinga similar match in a random polypeptide, and the significance of thematch determined. A computer comparison of two or more sequences can, ifdesired, also be optimized visually by those skilled in the art. Relatedgene products or proteins can be expected to have a high similarity, forexample, 25% to 100% sequence identity. Proteins that are unrelated canhave an identity which is essentially the same as would be expected tooccur by chance, if a database of sufficient size is scanned (about 5%).Sequences between 5% and 24% may or may not represent sufficienthomology to conclude that the compared sequences are related. Additionalstatistical analysis to determine the significance of such matches giventhe size of the data set can be carried out to determine the relevanceof these sequences.

Exemplary parameters for determining relatedness of two or moresequences using the BLAST algorithm, for example, can be as set forthbelow. Briefly, amino acid sequence alignments can be performed usingBLASTP version 2.0.8 (Jan. 5, 1999) and the following parameters:Matrix: 0 BLOSUM62; gap open: 11; gap extension: 1; x_dropoff: 50;expect: 10.0; wordsize: 3; filter: on. Nucleic acid sequence alignmentscan be performed using BLASTN version 2.0.6 (Sep. 16, 1998) and thefollowing parameters: Match: 1; mismatch: −2; gap open: 5; gapextension: 2; x_dropoff: 50; expect: 10.0; wordsize: 11; filter: off.Those skilled in the art will know what modifications can be made to theabove parameters to either increase or decrease the stringency of thecomparison, for example, and determine the relatedness of two or moresequences.

The non-naturally occurring microbial organisms of the invention cancontain stable genetic alterations, which refer to microorganisms thatcan be cultured for greater than five generations without loss of thealteration. Generally, stable genetic alterations include modificationsthat persist greater than 10 generations, particularly stablemodifications will persist more than about 25 generations, and moreparticularly, stable genetic modifications will be greater than 50generations, including indefinitely.

Those skilled in the art will understand that the genetic alterations,including metabolic modifications exemplified herein are described withreference to Euglena gracilis, E. coli and S. cerevisiae genes and theircorresponding metabolic reactions. However, given the complete genomesequencing of a wide variety of organisms and the high level of skill inthe area of genomics, those skilled in the art will readily be able toapply the teachings and guidance provided herein to essentially allother organisms. For example, the E. coli metabolic alterationsexemplified herein can readily be applied to other species byincorporating the same or analogous encoding nucleic acid from speciesother than the referenced species. Such genetic alterations include, forexample, genetic alterations of species homologs, in general, and inparticular, orthologs, paralogs or nonorthologous gene displacements.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturally occurringmicrobial organism having a malonyl-CoA-independent fatty acid synthesis(FAS) pathway and an acyl-reduction pathway having at least oneexogenous nucleic acid encoding a malonyl-CoA-independent FAS pathwayenzyme expressed in sufficient amounts to produce a primary alcohol,said malonyl-CoA-independent FAS pathway comprising ketoacyl-CoAacyltransferase or ketoacyl-CoA thiolase, 3-hydroxyacyl-CoAdehydrogenase, enoyl-CoA hydratase and enoyl-CoA reductase, saidacyl-reduction pathway comprising an acyl-CoA reductase and an alcoholdehydrogenase.

Malonyl-CoA-independent fatty acid synthesis is a metabolic process usedby photosynthetic flagellate such as Euglena gracilis (Inui et al.,Euro. J. Biochem. 96:931-34 (1984). These single cell organisms exhibitboth algae and protozoan characteristics and, depending on conditions,can utilize either light energy (photosynthesis) or chemical energy(eating) for biochemical processes. Under anaerobic conditions, E.gracilis converts paramylon, the reserve beta-1,2-glucan polysaccharide,into wax ester with concomitant generation of ATP, a phenomenon namedwax ester fermentation (Inui et al., supra, 1982; Inui et al.,Agricultural and Biological Chemistry 47:2669-2671 (1983)). Fatty acidsynthesis through the malonyl-CoA-independent pathway results in a netgain of ATP, whereas other fatty acid synthesis systems can not supportthe net gain of ATP. ATP also can be produced under aerobic conditions(Inui et al., Archives Biochemistry and Biophysics 237:423-29 (1985)).

In the absence of oxygen, acetyl-CoA is generated from pyruvate via anoxygen-sensitive pyruvate:NADP+ oxidoreductase (Inui et al., supra,1984; Inui et al., supra, 1985; Inui et al., Archives of Biochemistryand Biophysics 280:292-98 (1990); Inui et al., Journal of BiologicalChemistry 262:9130-35 (1987)), and serves as the terminal electronacceptor of glucose oxidation via the malonyl-CoA-independent fatty acidsynthesis to form wax ester (Inui et al., supra, (1985)). E. graciliscontains five different systems of fatty acid synthesis, including fourfatty acid synthesis systems located in different compartments, and themitochondrial malonyl-CoA-independent FAS system involved in anaerobicwax ester fermentation (Hoffmeister et al., J. of Biological Chemistry280:4329-38 (2005)). The malonyl-CoA-independent FAS system has beenshown to produce C8-C18 fatty acids. A fatty acid is reduced to alcohol,esterified with another fatty acid, and deposited in the cytosol aswaxes (Inui et al., Febs Letters 150:89-93 (1982); Inui et al., EuropeanJournal of Biochemistry 142:121-126 (1984)). The wax can constituteapproximately 50% of the total lipid in dark grown cells (Rosenberg, A.,Biochemistry 2:1148 (1963)). A particularly useful embodiment of theinvention harness the malonyl-CoA-independent fatty acid synthesis (FAS)system under anaerobic conditions to produce large quantities ofalcohols using the modified biosynthetic pathways described herein.

The malonyl-CoA-independent fatty acid synthesis pathway is similar tothe reversal of fatty acid oxidation and is referred as the fatty acidsynthesis in mitochondria or acyl-carrier protein (ACP)-independentfatty acid synthesis as it is known in the art. Compared to themalonyl-CoA-dependent fatty acid synthesis (a.k.a. ACP dependent fattyacid synthesis; Smith et al., Progress in Lipid Research 42:289-317(2003); White et al., Annual Review of Biochemistry 74:791-831 (2005)),there are several differences. First, acetyl-CoA is used as theextension unit instead of malonyl-ACP. Utilization of acetyl-CoA aselongation substrate in the malonyl-CoA-independent pathway eliminatesthe need for acetyl-CoA carboxylase complex (ACC), which convertsacetyl-CoA to malonyl-CoA, and thus conserves one ATP molecule per unitflux of acetyl-CoA entering the elongation cycle. Second, all of theintermediates in the elongation cycle are attached to CoA instead ofACP. The elongation cycle can include (i) ketoacyl-CoA acyltransferase(or ketoacyl-CoA thiolase, EC 2.3.1.16), (ii) 3-hydroxyacyl-CoAdehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.35 and 1.1.1.211), (iii) enoyl-CoA hydratase (EC4.2.1.17 and 4.2.1.74), and (iv) enoyl-CoA reductase (EC 1.3.1.44 and1.3.1.38). Third, the product from the elongation cycle is acyl-CoA,which can be utilized directly by acyl-CoA reductase, followed by adehydrogenase for conversion to alcohol, or by fatty acid formingacyl-CoA reductase (FAR), which converts acyl-CoA directly to alcohol.Therefore, thioesterase and acyl-CoA synthase are not required for theproduction of primary alcohols, as is the case with themalonyl-CoA-dependent pathways.

For example, the microorganisms of the invention utilize themalonyl-CoA-independent fatty acid synthesis pathway coupled with thereduction of the fatty acid to form primary alcohol as illustrated inFIG. 1. The microorganism can additionally be modified to convert, forexample, renewable feedstock to acetyl-CoA. In the bioengineeredpathways of the invention, acetyl-CoA can be used as both a primer andan extension unit in the elongation cycle described above. At the end ofeach elongation cycle, an acyl-CoA is formed that is one C2 unit longerthan the acyl-CoA entering the elongation cycle. Coupling the abovesynthesis pathway to a reduction pathway yields the primary alcoholproducts of the invention. Particularly useful is the coupling ofacyl-CoA having a desired chain-length to a reduction pathway that usesthe combination of chain-length specific acyl-CoA reductase (EC1.2.1.50) and alcohol dehydrogenase (1.1.1.1) or the fatty alcoholforming acyl-CoA reductase (FAR, EC 1.1.1) to form desired primaryalcohol. Carbon chain-length of the primary alcohols can be controlledby chain-length specific enoyl-CoA reductase, ketoacyl-CoA thiolaseand/or acyl-CoA reductase.

The microorganisms of the invention having the coupled biosyntheticpathways described above can produce primary alcohols at very highlevels. For example, the maximum theoretical yield for octanol using themalonyl-CoA-independent fatty acid biosynthetic pathway and theassociated energetics were calculated by adding themalonyl-CoA-independent fatty acid synthesis, acyl-CoA reductase andalcohol dehydrogenase reactions to a predictive E. coli metabolicstoichiometric network using the in silico metabolic modeling systemknown in the art as SimPheny™ (see, for example, U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/173,547, filed Jun. 14, 2002, and in International PatentApplication No. PCT/US03/18838, filed Jun. 13, 2003). The model assumesthat the secretion of octanol does not require energy. Table 4 shows themaximum theoretical yield for octanol under both aerobic and anaerobicconditions. The malonyl-CoA-independent fatty acid biosynthetic pathwayis much more energy-efficient than the malonyl-CoA-dependent fatty acidsynthesis pathways, and allows for a maximum theoretical yield of 0.5mole octanol/mole of glucose and maximum ATP yield of 2.125 mole/mole ofglucose under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions.

TABLE 4 Comparison of the maximum theoretical yield of octanol using (1)the malonyl- CoA-independent fatty acid synthesis and acyl-reductionpathway and (2) the ACP-dependent fatty acid synthesis and pathway.Malonyl-CoA-independent Typical fatty acid fatty acid biosynthetic andbiosynthetic and reduction pathway reduction pathway Anaerobic AerobicAnaerobic Aerobic Octanol Yield (mole/mole glucose) 0.5 0.5 0.375 0.48Max ATP Yield @ max octanol 2.125 2.125 0 0 yield (mole/mole glucose)

A non-naturally occurring microbial organism of the invention employscombinations of metabolic reactions for biosynthetically producing atarget primary alcohol or a target mixture of primary alcohols of theinvention. The combination of metabolic reactions can be engineered in avariety of different alternatives to achieve exogenous expression of amalonyl-CoA-independent FAS pathway in sufficient amounts to produce aprimary alcohol. The non-naturally occurring microbial organisms willexpress at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding amalonyl-CoA-independent FAS pathway enzyme. In certain embodiments, thenon-naturally occurring microbial organisms of the invention will beengineered to exogenously express more than one, including all, nucleicacids encoding some or all of the enzymes for the complete pathway ofmalonyl-CoA independent FAS pathway enzymes. Some or all of the enzymesfor acyl-reduction also can be exogenously expressed. Exogenousexpression should be at levels sufficient to produce metabolicallyutilizable gene product and result in the production of a target primaryalcohol or set of alcohols.

The biochemical reactions for formation of primary alcohols from acarbon or other energy source through a malonyl-CoA independent FASpathway is shown in FIG. 1. The malonyl-CoA independent FAS pathwayproduces acyl-CoA. Concomitant utilization of this intermediate productto produce target primary alcohols by an acyl-reduction pathway also isshown in FIG. 1.

The invention is described herein with general reference to themetabolic reaction, reactant or product thereof, or with specificreference to one or more nucleic acids or genes encoding an enzymeassociated with or catalyzing the referenced metabolic reaction,reactant or product. Unless otherwise expressly stated herein, thoseskilled in the art will understand that reference to a reaction alsoconstitutes reference to the reactants and products of the reaction.Similarly, unless otherwise expressly stated herein, reference to areactant or product also references the reaction and that reference toany of these metabolic constitutes also references the gene or genesencoding the enzymes that catalyze the referenced reaction, reactant orproduct. Likewise, given the well known fields of metabolicbiochemistry, enzymology and genomics, reference herein to a gene orencoding nucleic acid also constitutes a reference to the correspondingencoded enzyme and the reaction it catalyzes as well as the reactantsand products of the reaction.

Microbial organisms other than Euglena gracilis generally lack thecapacity to synthesize acyl-CoA through a malonyl-CoA independent FASpathway. Moreover, organisms having all of the requisite metabolicenzymatic capabilities are not known to produce acyl-CoA from theenzymes described and biochemical pathways exemplified herein. Rather,microorganisms having the enzymatic constituents of malonyl-CoAindependent FAS pathway operate to degrade short, medium, and long chainfatty-acyl-CoA compounds to acetyl-CoA. E. gracilis, having amalonyl-CoA independent FAS pathway, utilizes this pathway to produceacylglycerols, trihydric sugar alcohols, phospholipids, wax estersand/or fatty acids. In contrast, the non-naturally occurring microbialorganisms of the invention generate acyl-CoA as a product of themalonyl-CoA independent FAS pathway and funnel this product into anacyl-reduction pathway via favorable thermodynamic characteristics.Product biosynthesis of using the non-naturally occurring organisms ofthe invention is not only particularly useful for the production ofprimary alcohols, it also allows for the further biosynthesis ofcompounds using acyl-CoA and/or primary alcohols as an intermediatereactant.

The non-naturally occurring primary alcohol-producing microbialorganisms of the invention are generated by ensuring that a hostmicrobial organism includes functional capabilities for the completebiochemical synthesis of a malonyl-CoA independent fatty acidbiosynthetic pathway and for an acyl-reduction pathway of the invention.Ensuring complete functional capabilities for both pathways will conferprimary alcohol biosynthesis capability onto the host microbialorganism. The enzymes participating in a malonyl-CoA independent FASpathway include ketoacyl-CoA acyltransferase or ketoacyl-CoA thiolase,3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase, enoyl-CoA hydratase and enoyl-CoAreductase. The enzymes participating in an acyl-reduction pathwayinclude an acyl-CoA reductase and an alcohol dehydrogenase or an enzymehaving dual reductase and dehydrogenase activity.

The non-naturally occurring microbial organisms of the invention can beproduced by introducing expressible nucleic acids encoding one or moreof the enzymes participating in the malonyl-CoA independent FAS and/oracyl-reduction pathways. Depending on the host microbial organism chosenfor biosynthesis, nucleic acids for some or all of these biosyntheticpathways can be expressed. For example, if a chosen host is deficient inall of the enzymes in the malonyl-CoA independent FAS pathway, thenexpressible nucleic acids for each of the four enzymes ketoacyl-CoAacyltransferase or ketoacyl-CoA thiolase, 3-hydroxyacyl-CoAdehydrogenase, enoyl-CoA hydratase and enoyl-CoA reductase areintroduced into the host for subsequent exogenous expression.Alternatively, for example, if the chosen host is deficient less thanall four of the above enzymes, then all that is needed is to expressnucleic acids encoding the deficient enzymes. For example, if a host isdeficient in 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase and enoyl-CoA hydratase afunctionally complete malonyl-CoA independent FAS pathway can beengineererd by introduction of nucleic acids encoding these two enzymes.

In like fashion, where endogenous host biosynthetic machinery iscomplete for an acyl-reduction pathway, then genetic modification isunnecessary. However, if host capabilities are deficient in either orboth of the acyl-CoA reductase and/or alcohol dehydrogenase activities,then introduction of the deficient activity by expression of anexogenous encoding nucleic acid is needed. Accordingly, depending on themalonyl-CoA independent FAS and acyl-reduction pathway constituents of aselected host microbial organism, the non-naturally occurring microbialorganisms of the invention will include at least one exogenouslyexpressed malonyl-CoA independent FAS pathway-encoding nucleic acid andup to all six malonyl-CoA independent FAS and acyl-reduction pathwayencoding nucleic acids.

Given the teachings and guidance provided herein, those skilled in theart will understand that the number of encoding nucleic acids tointroduce in an expressible form will parallel the malonyl-CoAindependent FAS and acyl-reduction pathway deficiencies of the selectedhost microbial organism. Therefore, a non-naturally occurring microbialorganism of the invention can have one, two, three, four, five or sixencoding nucleic acids encoding the above enzymes constituting themalonyl-CoA independent FAS pathway, an acyl-reduction pathway or boththe malonyl-CoA independent FAS and acyl-reduction biosyntheticpathways. In some embodiments, the non-naturally occurring microbialorganisms also can include other genetic modifications that facilitateor optimize acyl-CoA and/or primary alcohol biosynthesis or that conferother useful functions onto the host microbial organism. One such otherfunctionality can include, for example, augmentation of the synthesis ofone or more of the malonyl-CoA independent FAS pathway precursors suchas acetyl-CoA, β-ketoacyl-CoA, β-hydroxyacyl-CoA, trans-2-enoyl-CoAand/or fatty aldehyde.

In some embodiments, a non-naturally occurring microbial organism of theinvention is generated from a host that contains the enzymaticcapability to synthesize acyl-CoA through a malonyl-CoA independent FASpathway, or having the capability to catalyze one or more of theenzymatic steps within the malonyl-CoA independent FAS and/oracyl-reduction pathways. In these specific embodiments it can be usefulto increase the synthesis or accumulation of a malonyl-CoA independentFAS pathway product or an acyl-reduction pathway product to, forexample, efficiently drive malonyl-CoA independent FAS and/oracyl-reduction pathway reactions toward primary alcohol production.Increased synthesis or accumulation can be accomplished by, for example,overexpression of nucleic acids encoding one or more of theabove-described malonyl-CoA independent FAS and/or acyl-reductionpathway enzymes. Over expression of the desired pathway enzyme orenzymes can occur, for example, through exogenous expression of theendogenous gene or genes, or through exogenous expression of aheterologous gene or genes. Therefore, naturally occurring organisms canreadily be generated to be non-naturally primary alcohol producingmicrobial organisms of the invention through overexpression of one, two,three, four, five or all six nucleic acids encoding a malonyl-CoAindependent FAS and/or a acyl-reduction pathway enzymes. In addition, anon-naturally occurring organism can be generated by mutagenesis of anendogenous gene that results in an increase in activity of an enzyme inthe malonyl-CoA independent FAS and/or acyl-reduction biosyntheticpathways.

In particularly useful embodiments, exogenous expression of the encodingnucleic acids is employed. Exogenous expression confers the ability tocustom tailor the expression and/or regulatory elements to the host andapplication to achieve a desired expression level that is controlled bythe user. However, endogenous expression also can be utilized in otherembodiments such as by removing a negative regulatory effector orinduction of the gene's promoter when linked to an inducible promoter orother regulatory element. For example, activation of fadB, an E. coligene having malonyl-CoA independent FAS activity corresponding to3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase and enoyl-CoA hydratase activities canbe accomplished by genetically knocking out a negative regulator, fadR,and co-expressing a heterologous ketothiolase (phaA from Ralstoniaeutropha; Sato et al., Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering103:38-44 (2007)). Thus, an endogenous gene having a naturally occurringinducible promoter can be up-regulated by providing the appropriateinducing agent, or the regulatory region of an endogenous gene can beengineered to incorporate an inducible regulatory element, therebyallowing the regulation of increased expression of an endogenous gene ata desired time. Similarly, an inducible promoter can be included as aregulatory element for an exogenous gene introduced into a non-naturallyoccurring microbial organism.

Additionally, for example, if an endogenous enzyme or enzymes operate ina reverse direction to the desired malonyl-CoA independent FAS pathway,genetic modifications can be made to attenuate or eliminate suchactivities. For example, within the malonyl-CoA independent FAS pathway,the ketothiolase, dehydrogenase, and enoyl-CoA hydratase steps arereversible whereas the enoyl-CoA reductase step is primarily oxidativeunder physiological conditions (Hoffmeister et al., Journal ofBiological Chemistry 280:4329-4338 (2005); Campbell, J. W. and J. E.Cronan, Jr., J Bacteriol. 184:3759-3764 (2002)). To accomplish reductionof a 2-enoyl-CoA intermediate a genetic modification can be introducedto attenuate or eliminate the reverse oxidative reaction.

Sources of encoding nucleic acids for a malonyl-CoA independent FASand/or acyl-reduction pathway enzyme can include, for example, anyspecies where the encoded gene product is capable of catalyzing thereferenced reaction. Such species include both prokaryotic andeukaryotic organisms including, but not limited to, bacteria, includingarchaea and eubacteria, and eukaryotes, including yeast, plant, insect,animal, and mammal, including human. For example, the microbialorganisms having primary alcohol biosynthetic production are exemplifiedherein with reference to an E. coli host. However, with the completegenome sequence available for now more than 550 species (with more thanhalf of these available on public databases such as the NCBI), including395 microorganism genomes and a variety of yeast, fungi, plant, andmammalian genomes, the identification of genes encoding the requisitemalonyl-CoA independent FAS and/or acyl-reduction biosynthetic activityfor one or more genes in related or distant species, including forexample, homologues, orthologs, paralogs and nonorthologous genedisplacements of known genes, and the interchange of genetic alterationsbetween organisms is routine and well known in the art. Accordingly, themetabolic alterations enabling biosynthesis of primary alcohols of theinvention described herein with reference to a particular organism suchas E. coli can be readily applied to other microorganisms, includingprokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms alike. Given the teachings andguidance provided herein, those skilled in the art will know that ametabolic alteration exemplified in one organism can be applied equallyto other organisms.

In some instances, such as when an alternative malonyl-CoA independentFAS constituent enzyme or pathway exists in an unrelated species,primary alcohol biosynthesis can be conferred onto the host species by,for example, exogenous expression of a paralog or paralogs from theunrelated species that catalyzes a similar, yet non-identical metabolicreaction to replace the referenced reaction. Because certain differencesamong metabolic networks exist between different organisms, thoseskilled in the art will understand that the actual genes usage betweendifferent organisms may differ. However, given the teachings andguidance provided herein, those skilled in the art also will understandthat the teachings and methods of the invention can be applied to allmicrobial organisms using the cognate metabolic alterations to thoseexemplified herein to construct a microbial organism in a species ofinterest that will synthesize the primary alcohol products of theinvention.

Encoding nucleic acids and species that can be used as sources forconferring malonyl-CoA independent FAS and/or acyl-reduction pathwaycapability onto a host microbial organism are exemplified further below.In one exemplary embodiment, the genes fadA and fadB encode amultienzyme complex that exhibits three constituent activities of themalonyl-CoA independent FAS pathway, namely, ketoacyl-CoA thiolase,3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase, and enoyl-CoA hydratase activities(Nakahigashi, K. and H. Inokuchi, Nucleic Acids Research 18:4937 (1990);Yang et al., Journal of Bacteriology 173:7405-7406 (1991); Yang et al,Journal of Biological Chemistry 265:10424-10429 (1990); Yang et al.,Biochemistry 30:6788-6795 (1990)). The fadI and fadJ genes encodesimilar activities which can substitute for the above malonyl-CoAindependent FAS conferring genes fadA and fadB. These genes arenaturally expressed under anaerobic conditions (Campbell and Cronan,supra, (2002)). The nucleic acid sequences for each of the above fadgenes are well known in the art and can be accessed in the publicdatabases such as Genbank using the following accession numbers.

fadA YP_026272.1 Escherichia coli fadB NP_418288.1 Escherichia coli fadINP_416844.1 Escherichia coli fadJ NP_416843.1 Escherichia coli fadRNP_415705.1 Escherichia coli

Other exemplary genes for the ketothiolase step include atoB which cancatalyze the reversible condensation of 2 acetyl-CoA molecules (Sato etal., supra, 2007), and its homolog yqeF. Non-E. coli genes that can beused include phaA from R. eutropha (Jenkins, L. S. and W. D. Nunn.Journal of Bacteriology 169:42-52 (1987)), and the two ketothiolases,thiA and thiB, from Clostridium acetobutylicum (Winzer et al., Journalof Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology 2:531-541 (2000)). Thesequences for these genes can be found at the following Genbankaccession numbers:

atoB NP_416728.1 Escherichia coli yqeF NP_417321.2 Escherichia coli phaAYP_725941 Ralstonia eutropha thiA NP_349476.1 Clostridium acetobutylicumthiB NP_149242.1 Clostridium acetobutylicum

An exemplary gene from E. coli which can be used for conferring3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase transformation activity is paaH (Ismailet al., European Journal of Biochemistry 270:3047-3054 (2003)). Non-E.coli genes applicable for conferring this activity include AAO72312.1from E. gracilis (Winkler et al., Plant Physiology 131:753-762 (2003)),paaC from Pseudomonas putida (Olivera et al., PNAS USA 95:6419-6424(1998)), paaC from Pseudomonas fluorescens (Di Gennaro et al., Archivesof Microbiology 188:117-125 (2007)), and hbd from C. acetobutylicum(Atsumi et al., Metabolic Engineering (2007) and Boynton et al., Journalof Bacteriology 178:3015-3024 (1996)). The sequences for each of theseexemplary genes can be found at the following Genbank accession numbers:

paaH NP_415913.1 Escherichia coli AA072312.1 Euglena gracilis paaCNP_745425.1 Pseudomonas putida paaC ABF82235.1 Pseudomonas fluorescenshbd NP_349314.1 Clostridium acetobutylicum

Exemplary genes encoding the enoyl-CoA hydratase step include, forexample, maoC (Park and Lee, Journal Bacteriology 185:5391-5397 (2003)),paaF (Ismail et al., European Journal of Biochemistry 270:3047-3054(2003); Park and Lee, Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 113-116:335-346 (2004)and Park and Yup, Biotechnol. Bioeng. 86:681-686 (2004)), and paaG(Ismail et al., European Journal of Biochemistry 270:3047-3054 (2003);Park and Lee, Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 113-116:335-346 (2004) and Parkand Yup, Biotechnol. Bioeng. 86:681-686 (2004)). Other genes which canbe used to produce the gene product catalyzing this step, for example,paaA, paaB, and paaN from P. putida (Olivera et al., PNAS USA95:6419-6424 (1998)) and P. fluorescens (Di Gennaro et al., Archives ofMicrobiology 188:117-125 (2007)). The gene product of crt from C.acetobutylicum also can be used (Atsumi et al., Metabolic Engineering(2007) and Boynton et al., Journal of Bacteriology 178: 3015-3024 (1996.The sequences for each of these exemplary genes can be found at thefollowing Genbank accession numbers:

maoC NP_415905.1 Escherichia coli paaF NP_415911.1 Escherichia coli paaGNP_415912.1 Escherichia coli paaA NP_745427.1 Pseudomonas putida paaAABF82233.1 Pseudomonas fluorescens paaB NP_745426.1 Pseudomonas putidapaaB ABF82234.1 Pseudomonas fluorescens paaN NP_745413.1 Pseudomonasputida paaN ABF82246.1 Pseudomonas fluorescens crt NP_349318.1Clostridium acetobutylicum

An exemplary gene which can be introduced into a non-naturally occurringmicrobial organism of the invention to confer enoyl-CoA reductaseactivity is the mitochondrial enoyl-CoA reductase from E. gracilisHoffmeister et al., supra (2005)). A construct derived from thissequence following the removal of its mitochondrial targeting leadersequence has been cloned and expressed in E. coli. This approach forheterologous expression of membrane targeted polypeptides in a solubleform is well known to those skilled in the art of expressing eukaryoticgenes, particularly those with leader sequences that may target the geneproduct to a specific intracellular compartment, in prokaryoticorganisms. A close homolog of this gene, TDE0597, from the prokaryoteTreponema denticola represents also can be employed to confer enoyl-CoAreductase activity (Tucci and Martin, FEBS Letters 581:1561-1566(2007)). Butyryl-CoA dehydrogenase, encoded by bcd from C.acetobutylicum, is a further exemplary enzyme that can be used to conferenoyl-CoA reductase activity onto a host microbial organism of theinvention (Atsumi et al., Metabolic Engineering (2007) and Boynton etal., Journal of Bacteriology 178: 3015-3024 (1996)). Alternatively, E.coli genes exhibiting this activity can be obtained using methods wellknown in the art (see, for example, Mizugaki et al., Chemical &Pharmaceutical Bulletin 30:206-213 (1982) and Nishimaki et al., Journalof Biochemistry 95:1315-1321 (1984)). The sequences for each of theabove exemplary genes can be found at the following Genbank accessionnumbers:

TER Q5EU90.1 Euglena gracilis TDE0597 NP_971211.1 Treponema denticolabcd NP_349317.1 Clostridium acetobutylicum

At least three mitochondrial enoyl-CoA reductase enzymes exist in E.gracilis that similarly are applicable for use in the invention. Eachenoyl-CoA reductase enzyme exhibits a unique chain length preference(Inui et al., European Journal of Biochemistry 142:121-126 (1984)),which is particularly useful for dictating the chain length of thedesired primary alcohol products of the invention. EST's ELL00002199,ELL00002335, and ELL00002648, which are all annotated as mitochondrialtrans-2-enoyl-CoA reductases, can be used to isolate these additionalenoyl-CoA reductase genes as described further below.

Those skilled in the art also can obtain nucleic acids encoding any orall of the malonyl-CoA independent FAS pathway or acyl-reduction pathwayenzymes by cloning using known sequences from available sources. Forexample, any or all of the encoding nucleic acids for the malonyl-CoAindependent FAS pathway can be readily obtained using methods well knownin the art from E. gracilis as this pathway has been well characterizedin this organism. E. gracilis encoding nucleic acids can be isolatedfrom, for example, an E. gracilis cDNA library using probes of knownsequence. The probes can be designed with whole or partial DNA sequencesfrom the following EST sequences from the publically available sequencedatabase TBestDB (at URL bestdb.bcm.umontreal.ca). The nucleic acidsgenerated from this process can be inserted into an appropriateexpression vector and transformed into E. coli or other microorganismsto generate primary alcohol production organisms of the invention.

ketoacyl-CoA acyltransferase (or ketoacyl-CoA thiolase)

-   -   ELL00002550    -   ELL00002493    -   ELL00000789

3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase

-   -   ELL00000206    -   ELL00002419    -   ELL00006286    -   ELL00006656

enoyl-CoA hydratase

-   -   ELL00005926    -   ELL00001952    -   ELL00002235    -   ELL00006206

enoyl-CoA reductase

-   -   ELL00002199    -   ELL00002335    -   ELL00002648

Alternatively, the above EST sequences can be used to identify homologuepolypeptides in GenBank through BLAST search. The resulting homologuepolypeptides and their corresponding gene sequences provide additionalencoding nucleic acids for transformation into E. coli or othermicroorganisms to generate the primary alcohol producing organisms ofthe invention. Listed below are exemplary homologue polypeptide andtheir gene accession numbers in GenBank which are applicable for use inthe non-naturally occurring organisms of the invention.

ketoacyl-CoA acyltransferase (or ketoacyl-CoA thiolase) YP_001530041Desulfococcus oleovorans Hxd3 ZP_02133627 Desulfatibacillum alkenivoransAK-01 ZP_01860900 Bacillus sp. SG-1 YP_001511817 Alkaliphilus oremlandiiOhILAs NP_781017 Clostridium tetani E88 YP_001646648 Bacillusweihenstephanensis KBAB4 YP_001322360 Alkaliphilus metalliredigens QYMFYP_001397054 Clostridium kluyveri DSM 555 NP_070026 Archaeoglobusfulgidus DSM 4304 YP_001585327 Burkholderia multivorans ATCC 176163-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase AA072312 Euglena gracilis XP_001655993Aedes aegypti NP_001011073 Xenopus tropicalis NP_001003515 Danio rerioXP_973042 Tribolium castaneum XP_001638329 Nematostella vectensisCAG11476 Tetraodon nigroviridis XP_787188 Strongylocentrotus purpuratusXP_001749481 Monosiga brevicollis MX1 NP_509584 Caenorhabditis elegansXP_572875 Cryptococcus neoformans var enoyl-CoA hydratase XP_844077Trypanosoma brucei XP_802711 Trypanosoma cruzi strain CL BrenerXP_806421 Trypanosoma cruzi strain CL Brener. YP_001669856 Pseudomonasputida GB-1 YP_641317 Mycobacterium sp. MCS YP_959434 Marinobacteraquaeolei VT8 ABK24445 Picea sitchensis XP_640315 Dictyosteliumdiscoideum YP_633978 Myxococcus xanthus DK 1622 YP_467905 Rhizobium etliCFN 42 YP_419997 Magnetospirillum magneticum AMB-1 YP_001172441Pseudomonas stutzeri A1501 enoyl-CoA reductase. XP_642118 Dictyosteliumdiscoideum AX4 XP_001639469 Nematostella vectensis XP_001648220 Aedesaegypti XP_974428 Tribolium castaneum XP_535334 Canis lupus familiaris(dog) NP_001016371 Xenopus tropicalis XP_320682 Anopheles gambiae str.PEST ZP_01645699 Stenotrophomonas maltophilia XP_001679449Caenorhabditis briggsae AF16 ZP_01443601 Roseovarius sp. HTCC2601XP_395130 Apis mellifera XP_001113746 Macaca mulatta ZP_01485509 Vibriocholerae V51 ZP_02012479 Opitutaceae bacterium TAV2 ZP_01163033Photobacterium sp. SKA34 YP_267463 Colwellia psychrerythraea 34HZP_01114282 Reinekea sp MED297 ZP_01732824 Flavobacteria bacterium BAL38

As described previously, after the malonyl-CoA independent elongationcycle, the resulting acyl-CoA can be reduced to produce a primaryalcohol by either a single enzyme or pair of enzymes that exhibitacyl-CoA reductase and alcohol dehydrogenase activities. Exemplary genesthat encode enzymes for catalyzing the reduction of an acyl-CoA to itscorresponding aldehyde include the Acinetobacter calcoaceticus acr1encoding a fatty acyl-CoA reductase (Reiser and Somerville, Journal ofBacteriology 179:2969-2975 (1997)), the Acinetobacter sp. M-1 fattyacyl-CoA reductase (Ishige et al., Appl. Environ. Microbiol.68:1192-1195 (2002)), and the sucD gene from Clostridium kluyveri(Sohling and Gottschalk, Journal Bacteriology 178:871-880 (1996)).

acr1 YP_047869.1 Acinetobacter calcoaceticus AAC45217 Acinetobacterbaylyi BAB85476.1 Acinetobacter sp. Strain M-1 sucD P38947.1 Clostridiumkluyveri

Exemplary genes encoding enzymes that catalyze the conversion of analdehyde to alcohol (i.e., alcohol dehydrogenase or equivalentlyaldehyde reductase) include alrA encoding a medium-chain alcoholdehydrogenase for C2-C14 (Tani et al., Appl. Environ. Microbiol.66:5231-5235 (2000)), ADH2 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Atsumi et al.,Nature 451:86-89 (2008)), and yqhD from E. coli which has preference formolecules longer than C3 (Sulzenbacher et al., Journal of MolecularBiology 342:489-502 (2004)).

alrA BAB12273.1 Acinetobacter sp. Strain M-1 ADH2 NP_014032.1Saccharymyces cerevisiae yqhD NP_417484.1 Escherichia coli

Alternatively, the fatty acyl-CoA can be reduced in one step by a fattyalcohol forming acyl-CoA reductase or any other enzyme with dualacyl-CoA reductase and alcohol dehydrogenase activity. For example, thejojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) FAR encodes an alcohol-forming fattyacyl-CoA reductase and its overexpression in E. coli resulted in FARactivity and the accumulation of fatty alcohol (Metz et al., PlantPhysiology 122:635-644 (2000)). The reductase with narrow substratechain-length specificities will also function as additional control forproduct chain-length. Additional gene candidates include the E. coliadhE (Kessler et al., FEBS Letters 281:59-63 (2000)) and C.acetobutylicum bdh I and bdh II (Walter et al., Journal of Bacteriology174:7149-7158 (1992)) which can reduce acetyl-CoA and butyryl-CoA toethanol and butanol, respectively.

FAR AAD38039.1 Simmondsia chinensis adhE NP_415757.1 Escherichia colibdh I NP_349892.1 Clostridium acetobutylicum bdh II NP_349891.1Clostridium acetobutylicum

In addition, the E. gracilis nucleic acid sequences encoding enzymes forthe reduction step can be obtained and transformed into a host asdescribed previously for the malonyl-CoA independent FAS pathwayencoding nucleic acids. Isolated from an E. gracilis cDNA library usingprobes, designed with whole or partial DNA sequences from the followingEST sequences from TBestDB (at URL bestdb.bcm.umontreal.ca) can beperformed as described previously.

aldehyde dehydrogenase

-   -   ELL00002572    -   ELL00002581    -   ELL00000108

In addition to the above exemplary encoding nucleic acids, nucleic acidsother than those within the malonyl-CoA independent FAS and/oracyl-reduction pathways of the invention also can be introduced into ahost organism for further production of primary alcohols. For example,the Ralstonia eutropha BktB and PhbB genes catalyze the condensation ofbutyryl-CoA and acetyl-CoA to form β-keto-hexanoyl-CoA and the reductionof β-keto-hexanoyl-CoA to 3-hydroxy-hexanoyl-CoA (Fukui et al.,Biomacromolecules 3:618-624 (2002)). To improve the production ofprimary alcohols, exogenous DNA sequences encoding for these specificenzymes can be expressed in the production host of interest.Furthermore, the above described enzymes can be subjected to directedevolution to generate improved versions of these enzymes with highactivity and high substrate specificity. A similar approach also can beutilized with any or all other enzymatic steps in the primary alcoholproducing pathways of the invention to, for example, improve enzymaticactivity and/or specificity and/or to generate long chain alcohols of apredetermined chain length or lengths.

In addition, fatty acyl-CoA and fatty alcohols generated as describedabove can be applied to produce esters of various lengths. These esterscan be formed between: 1) fatty acyl-CoA and short-chain alcohols suchas methanol, ethanol, propanol, etc.; 2) fatty alcohols and short-chainacyl-CoA such as formyl-CoA, acetyl-CoA, and propionyl-CoA, etc.; 3)fatty acyl-CoA and fatty alcohols as shown in the following equations.fatty acyl-CoA+short-chain alcohols→fatty esters+CoAfatty alcohols+short-chain acyl-CoA→fatty esters+CoAfatty acyl-CoA+fatty alcohols=wax→CoA

The fatty (or long-chain) alcohols can be synthesized intracellularly bythe pathways described herein or can be added to the medium and taken upby the engineered microbe. Similarly, short-chain alcohols can be addedto the medium or produced endogenously. Ethanol is an exemplary shortchain alcohol that is naturally produced by many microorganismsincluding Escherichia coli and Saccahyromyces cerevisiae. Exemplaryfatty esters include, but not limited to, fatty acid methyl esters(FAMEs), fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs), acetyl esters, and wax. Suchmolecules have broad applications including in food, personal care,coatings, surfactants, and biodiesel (Gerhard Knothe, Energy & Fuels2008, 22, 1358-1364). Fatty esters, in this context, are differentiatedfrom wax by the size of the hydrocarbon chain on each side of the esterbond. Waxes have long chain hydrocarbons on each side of the ester bond,whereas fatty esters have one short chain and one long chain hydrocarbonon each side of the ester bond, respectively.

The reactions to produce these esters can be catalyzed by enzymes withacyl-CoA:alcohol transacylase activities. Exemplary enzymes forcatalyzing the formation of fatty esters include the acyl-CoA:fattyalcohol acyltransferase (wax ester synthase, WS, EC 2.3.1.75) andacetyl-CoA: alcohol 0-acetyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.84). Exemplary genescoding for these enzymes include the Acinetobacter sp. ADP1 atfAencoding a bifunctional enzyme with both wax ester synthase (WS) andacyl-CoA: diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) activities (Kalscheueret al. A J Biol Chem 2003, 278: 8075-8082.); the Simmondsia chinensisgene AAD38041 encoding a WS required for the accumulation of waxes injojoba seeds (Lardizabal et al. Plant Physiology 2000, 122: 645-655.);the Alcanivorax borkumensis atfA1 and atfA2 encoding bifunctionalWS/DGAT enzymes (Kalscheuer et al. J Bacteriol 2007, 189: 918-928.); theFragaria×ananassa AAT encoding an alcohol acetyltransferasae (Noichindaet al. Food Sci Technol Res 1999, 5: 239-242.); the Rosa hybrid cultivarAAT1 encoding an alcohol acetyltransferase (Guterman et al. Plant MolBiol 2006, 60: 555-563.); and the Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATF1 and ATF2encoding alcohol acetyltransferases (Mason et al. Yeast 2000, 16:1287-1298.).

atfA Q8GGG1 Acinetobacter sp. ADP1 AAD38041 Simmondsia chinensis atfA1YP_694462 Alcanivorax borkumensis SK2 atfA2 YP_693524 Alcanivoraxborkumensis SK2 AAT AAG13130 Fragaria x ananassa AAT1 Q5I6B5 Rosa hybridcultivar ATF1 P40353 Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATF2 P53296 Saccharomycescerevisiae

Host microbial organisms can be selected from, and the non-naturallyoccurring microbial organisms generated in, for example, bacteria,yeast, fungus or any of a variety of other microorganisms applicable tofermentation processes. Exemplary bacteria include species selected fromE. coli, Rhodococcus opacus, Ralstonia eutropha, Klebsiella oxytoca,Anaerobiospirillum succiniciproducens, Actinobacillus succinogenes,Mannheimia succiniciproducens, Rhizobium etli, Bacillus subtilis,Corynebacterium glutamicum, Gluconobacter oxydans, Zymomonas mobilis,Lactococcus lactis, Lactobacillus plantarum, Streptomyces coelicolor,Clostridium acetobutylicum, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas putidaand E. gracilis. Exemplary yeasts or fungi include species selected fromSaccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Kluyveromyceslactis, Kluyveromyces marxianus, Aspergillus terreus, Aspergillus nigerand Pichia pastoris.

Methods for constructing and testing the expression levels of anon-naturally occurring primary alcohol-producing host can be performed,for example, by recombinant and detection methods well known in the art.Such methods can be found described in, for example, Sambrook et al.,Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Third Ed., Cold Spring HarborLaboratory, New York (2001); Ausubel et al., Current Protocols inMolecular Biology, John Wiley and Sons, Baltimore, Md. (1999). Forexample, nucleic acids encoding enzymes in the malonyl-CoA independentFAS and/or acyl-reduction pathway can be introduced stably ortransiently into a host cell using techniques well known in the artincluding, but not limited to, conjugation, electroporation, chemicaltransformation, transduction, transfection, and ultrasoundtransformation. For exogenous expression in E. coli or other prokaryoticcells, for example, mitochondrial genes will encode an N-terminaltargeting signals, which can be removed before transformation into hostcells. For exogenous expression in yeast or other eukaryotic cells,genes can be expressed in the cytosol without the addition of thetargeting sequence, or alternatively, can be targeted to mitochondrionwith the addition of mitochondrial targeting signal functional in thehost organism. Furthermore, genes can be subjected for codonoptimization with techniques well known in the art, to achieve optimalexpression of the one or more malonyl-CoA independent FAS and/oracyl-reduction pathway gene products.

An expression vector or vectors can be constructed to harbor one or moremalonyl-CoA independent FAS and/or acyl-reduction pathway encodingnucleic acids operably linked to expression control sequences functionalin the host organism. Expression vectors applicable for use in themicrobial host organisms of the invention include, for example,plasmids, phage vectors, viral vectors and artificial chromosomes.Selectable marker genes also can be included that, for example, provideresistance to antibiotics or toxins, complement auxotrophicdeficiencies, or supply critical nutrients not in the culture media.Expression control sequences can include constitutive and induciblepromoters, transcription enhancers, transcription terminators, and thelike which are well known in the art. When two or more exogenous nucleicacids encoding are to be co-expressed, both nucleic acids can beinserted, for example, into a single expression vector or in separateexpression vectors. For single vector expression, the encoding nucleicacids can be operationally linked to one common expression controlsequence or linked to different expression control sequences, such asone inducible promoter and one constitutive promoter. The transformationof exogenous DNA sequences involved in a metabolic or synthetic pathwaywill be confirmed using methods well known in the art.

Primary alcohol production can be detected and/or monitored usingmethods well known to those skilled in the art. For example, finalproduct of primary alcohol and/or intermediates such as acyl-CoA andorganic acids can be analyzed by HPLC, GC-MS and LC-MS. For example,primary alcohols can be separated by HPLC using a Spherisorb 5 ODS1column and a mobile phase of 70% 10 mM phosphate buffer (pH=7) and 30%methanol, and detected using a UV detector at 215 nm (Hennessy et al.2004, J. Forensic Sci. 46(6):1-9). The release or secretion of primaryalcohol into the culture medium or fermentation broth also can bedetected using these procedures. Activities of one or more enzymes inthe malonyl-CoA independent FAS and/or acyl-reduction pathway also canbe measured using methods well known in the art.

The non-naturally occurring microbial organisms of the invention areconstructed using methods well known in the art as exemplified above toexogenously express at least one nucleic acid encoding a malonyl-CoAindependent FAS pathway enzyme in sufficient amounts to produce primaryalcohol. Following the teachings and guidance provided herein, thenon-naturally occurring microbial organisms of the invention can achievebiosynthesis of greater than that which can be synthesized in naturallyoccurring organisms. Generally, the intracellular concentration of, forexample, octanol is about 54 μg/L and decanol is about 148 μg/L.

As described further below, one exemplary growth condition for achievingbiosynthesis of primary alcohols includes anaerobic culture orfermentation conditions. In certain embodiments, the non-naturallyoccurring microbial organisms of the invention can be sustained,cultured or fermented under anaerobic or substantially anaerobicconditions. Briefly, anaerobic conditions refers to an environmentdevoid of oxygen. Substantially anaerobic conditions include, forexample, a culture, batch fermentation or continuous fermentation suchthat the dissolved oxygen concentration in the medium remains between 0and 10% of saturation. Substantially anaerobic conditions also includesgrowing or resting cells in liquid medium or on solid agar inside asealed chamber maintained with an atmosphere of less than 1% oxygen. Thepercent of oxygen can be maintained by, for example, sparging theculture with an N₂/CO₂ mixture or other suitable non-oxygen gas orgases.

The invention further provides a method for the production of primaryalcohols. The method includes culturing a non-naturally occurringmicrobial organism have having a malonyl-CoA-independent fatty acidsynthesis (FAS) pathway and an acyl-reduction pathway comprising atleast one exogenous nucleic acid encoding a malonyl-CoA-independent FASpathway enzyme expressed in sufficient amounts to produce a primaryalcohol under substantially anaerobic conditions for a sufficient periodof time to produce said primary alcohol, said malonyl-CoA-independentFAS pathway comprising ketoacyl-CoA acyltransferase or ketoacyl-CoAthiolase, 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase, enoyl-CoA hydratase andenoyl-CoA reductase, said acyl-reduction pathway comprising an acyl-CoAreductase and an alcohol dehydrogenase.

Any of the non-naturally occurring microbial organisms describedpreviously can be cultured to produce the biosynthetic products of theinvention. For example, the primary alcohol producers can be culturedfor the biosynthetic production of its engineered target primaryalcohol. The primary alcohol can be isolated or isolated and furtherutilized in a wide variety of products and procedures.

In some embodiments, culture conditions include anaerobic orsubstantially anaerobic growth or maintenance conditions. Exemplaryanaerobic conditions have been described previously and are well knownin the art. Exemplary anaerobic conditions for fermentation processesare described below and are well known in the art. Any of theseconditions can be employed with the non-naturally occurring microbialorganisms as well as other anaerobic conditions well known in the art.

The culture conditions can include, for example, liquid cultureprocedures as well as fermentation and other large scale cultureprocedures. As described further below in the Examples, particularlyuseful yields of the biosynthetic products of the invention can beobtained under anaerobic or substantially anaerobic culture conditions.Exemplary growth procedures include, for example, fed-batch fermentationand batch separation; fed-batch fermentation and continuous separation,or continuous fermentation and continuous separation. All of theseprocesses are well known in the art.

Fermentation procedures are particularly useful for the biosyntheticproduction of commercial quantities of primary alcohols. Generally, andas with non-continuous culture procedures, the continuous and/ornear-continuous production of primary alcohols will include culturing anon-naturally occurring primary alcohol producing organism of theinvention in sufficient neutrients and medium to sustain and/or nearlysustain growth in an exponential phase. Continuous culture under suchconditions can be include, for example, 1 day, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 daysor more. Additionally, continuous culture can include 1 week, 2, 3, 4 or5 or more weeks and up to several months. Alternatively, organisms ofthe invention can be cultured for hours, if suitable for a particularapplication. It is to be understood that the continuous and/ornear-continuous culture conditions also can include all time intervalsin between these exemplary periods.

Fermentation procedures are well known in the art. Briefly, fermentationfor the biosynthetic production of primary alcohol products of theinvention can be utilized in, for example, fed-batch fermentation andbatch separation; fed-batch fermentation and continuous separation, orcontinuous fermentation and continuous separation. Examples of batch andcontinuous fermentation procedures well known in the art are exemplifiedfurther below in the Examples.

In a further embodiment, the primary alcohol producing microbialorganisms of the invention utilize renewable feedstocks andcarbon-containing gas as carbon sources for growth. Employing thesealternative materials as a feedstock is particularly useful because theyare beneficial from an environmental standpoint and lower productioncosts of bioprocess-derived products such as the primary alcohols of theinvention.

Renewable feedstocks useful for growth of the primary alcohol producingorganisms of the invention, including fermentation processes with themodified organisms of the invention, can include any regenerative rawmaterial which can be used by the cell as a supply a carbon or otherenergy source. In general, renewable feedstock are derived from livingorganisms or their metabolic byproducts including material derived frombiomass, often consisting of underutilized components like chaff.Agricultural products specifically grown for use as renewable feedstocksand useful in the methods of the invention include, for example, corn,soybeans and cotton; flaxseed and rapeseed; sugar cane and palm oil.Renewable feedstocks that can be used therefore include an array ofcarbohydrates, fats and proteins derived from agricultural and/or animalmatter which can be harnessed by the primary alcohol producing organismsof the invention as a source for carbon.

Plant-derived biomass which is available as an energy source on asustainable basis includes, for example, herbaceous and woody energycrops, agricultural food and feed crops, agricultural crop wastes andresidues, wood wastes and residues, aquatic plants, and other wastematerials including some municipal wastes (see, for example, the URL1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/information_resources.html, which includes adatabase describing more than 150 exemplary kinds of biomass sources).Exemplary types of biomasses that can be used as feedstocks in themethods of the invention include cellulosic biomass, hemicellulosicbiomass and lignin feedstocks or portions of feedstocks. Such biomassfeedstocks contain, for example, carbohydrate substrates useful ascarbon sources such as glucose, xylose, arabinose, galactose, mannose,fructose and starch. Given the teachings and guidance provided herein,those skilled in the art will understand that renewable feedstocks andbiomass other than those exemplified above also can be used forculturing the microbial organisms of the invention for the production ofa wide variety of primary alcohols.

In addition to renewable feedstocks such as those exemplified above, theprimary alcohol producing microbial organisms of the invention also canbe modified for growth on syngas as its source of carbon. In thisspecific embodiment, one or more proteins or enzymes are expressed inthe primary alcohol producing organisms to provide a metabolic pathwayfor utilization of syngas or other gaseous carbon source.

Synthesis gas, also known as syngas or producer gas, is the majorproduct of gasification of coal and of carbonaceous materials such asbiomass materials, including agricultural crops and residues. Syngas isa mixture primarily of H₂ and CO and can be obtained from thegasification of any organic feedstock, including but not limited tocoal, coal oil, natural gas, biomass, and waste organic matter.Gasification is generally carried out under a high fuel to oxygen ratio.Although largely H₂ and CO, syngas can also include CO₂ and other gasesin smaller quantities. Thus, synthesis gas provides a cost effectivesource of gaseous carbon such as CO and, additionally, CO₂.

The Wood-Ljungdahl pathway catalyzes the conversion of CO and H₂ toacetyl-CoA and other products such as acetate. Organisms capable ofutilizing CO and syngas also generally have the capability of utilizingCO₂ and CO₂/H₂ mixtures through the same basic set of enzymes andtransformations encompassed by the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway. H₂-dependentconversion of CO₂ to acetate by microorganisms was recognized longbefore it was revealed that CO also could be used by the same organismsand that the same pathways were involved. Many acetogens have been shownto grow in the presence of CO₂ and produce compounds such as acetate aslong as hydrogen is present to supply the necessary reducing equivalents(see for example, Drake, Acetogenesis, pp. 3-60 Chapman and Hall, NewYork, (1994)). This can be summarized by the following equation:2CO₂+4H₂ +nADP+nPi→CH₃COOH+2H₂O+nATP

Hence, non-naturally occurring microorganisms possessing theWood-Ljungdahl pathway can utilize CO₂ and H₂ mixtures as well for theproduction of acetyl-CoA and other desired products.

The Wood-Ljungdahl pathway is well known in the art and consists of 12reactions which can be separated into two branches: (1) methyl branchand (2) carbonyl branch. The methyl branch converts syngas tomethyl-tetrahydrofolate (methyl-THF) whereas the carbonyl branchconverts methyl-THF to acetyl-CoA. The reactions in the methyl branchare catalyzed in order by the following enzymes: ferredoxinoxidoreductase, formate dehydrogenase, formyltetrahydrofolatesynthetase, methenyltetrahydrofolate cyclodehydratase,methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase and methylenetetrahydrofolatereductase. The reactions in the carbonyl branch are catalyzed in orderby the following enzymes: cobalamide corrinoid/iron-sulfur protein,methyltransferase, carbon monoxide dehydrogenase, acetyl-CoA synthase,acetyl-CoA synthase disulfide reductase and hydrogenase. Following theteachings and guidance provided above for introducing a sufficientnumber of encoding nucleic acids to complete the either or both themalonyl-CoA independent FAS and/or the acyl-reduction pathway, thoseskilled in the art will understand that the same engineering design alsocan be performed with respect to introducing at least the nucleic acidsencoding the Wood-Ljungdahl enzymes absent in the host organism.Therefore, introduction of one or more encoding nucleic acids into themicrobial organisms of the invention such that the modified organismcontains the complete Wood-Ljungdahl pathway will confer syngasutilization ability.

The invention is also directed, in part, to the design and creation ofcells and organisms having growth-coupled production of LCA. In oneembodiment, the invention utilizes optimization-based approaches basedon in silico stoichiometric model of Escherichia coli metabolism thatidentify metabolic designs for optimal production of LCA. A bilevelprogramming framework, OptKnock, is applied within an iterativealgorithm to predict multiple sets of gene disruptions, thatcollectively result in the growth-coupled production of LCA. The resultsdescribed herein indicate that combinations of strategically placed genedeletions or functional disruptions of genes significantly improve theLCA production capabilities of Escherichia coli and other cells ororganisms. The strain design strategies are equally applicable if anorganism other than E. coli is chosen as the production host, even ifthe organism naturally lacks the activity or exhibits low activity of asubset of the gene products marked for disruption. In those cases,disruptions must only be introduced to eliminate or lessen the enzymaticactivities of the gene products that are naturally present in the chosenproduction host. Growth-coupled production of LCA for the in silicodesigns are confirmed by construction of strains having the designedmetabolic genotype. These metabolically engineered cells or organismsalso can be subjected to adaptive evolution to further augmentgrowth-coupled product production.

The invention is also directed, in part, to the design and creation ofcells and organisms that produce long chain alcohols, LCAs based on insilico stoichiometric model of Saccharomyces cerevisiae metabolism. Oneskilled in the art will recognize the ability to also produce LCAs bynon-growth-coupled production by providing a non-producing growth phase,followed by a non-growth production phase, for example. The resultsdescribed herein indicate that combinations of gene deletions orfunctional disruptions of genes significantly improve the LCA productioncapabilities of Saccharomyces cerevisaie and other cells of eukaryoticorganisms and eukaryotic microbial organisms. The strain design pathwaysare equally applicable if a eukaryotic microbial organism other than S.cerevisiae is chosen as the production host, even if the organismnaturally lacks the activity or exhibits low activity of a subset of thegene products marked for disruption. In the latter case, disruptions canbe introduced to eliminate or lessen the enzymatic activities of thegene products that are naturally present in the chosen production host.In some embodiments, growth-coupled production of LCA for the in silicodetermined metabolic pathways is confirmed by construction of strainshaving the designed metabolic genotype. These metabolically engineeredcells or organisms can also be subjected to adaptive evolution tofurther augment growth-coupled product production. In some embodiments,the engineered cells or organisms can also incorporate additional copiesof beneficial genes to increase flux through a particular metabolicpathway. Alternatively, exogenous gene insertions from another organismcan be used to install functionality that is not present in the hostorganism.

In some embodiments, the designed LCA production pathway utilizes amalonyl-CoA-independent fatty acid synthesis pathway coupled withreduction of the fatty acid to form primary alcohol as shown in FIG. 1.The malonyl-CoA independent LCA production pathway (MI-LCA pathway)comprises the malonyl-CoA-independent fatty acid synthesis steps and theacyl-CoA reduction steps. An engineered microorganism possessing theMI-LCA pathway will convert low cost renewable feedstocks, such asglucose and sucrose, to acetyl-CoA through glycolysis. Acetyl-CoA thenis used as both primer and extension units in an elongation cycle thatinvolves the ketoacyl-CoA thiolase, 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase,enoyl-CoA hydratase, and enoyl-CoA reductase. At the end of eachelongation cycle, an acyl-CoA is formed that is one C₂ unit longer thanthe acyl-CoA entering the elongation cycle. The acyl-CoA with a desiredchain-length is then reduced through the combination of acyl-CoAreductase and alcohol dehydrogenase or the fatty alcohol formingacyl-CoA reductase to form the desired primary alcohol. The carbonchain-length of the LCA can be controlled by chain-length specificenoyl-CoA reductase, ketoacyl-CoA thiolase, and/or acyl-CoA reductase.

The MI-LCA pathway has the advantage of better product and ATP yieldsthan that through the typical energy-intensive fatty acid synthesispathways for LCA production. For example, the maximum theoretical yieldfor dodecanol (C₁₂) using the MI-LCA pathway is 0.333 mol per mol ofglucose consumed under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions:3C₆H₁₂O₆→C₁₂H₂₆O+6CO₂+5H₂O

Additionally, the energy and redox characteristics of the MI-LCA pathwaymake it suited for the creation of strains that couple LCA production togrowth using OptKnock algorithms (Burgard, A. P., P. Pharkya, and C. D.Maranas, Optknock: a bilevel programming framework for identifying geneknockout strategies for microbial strain optimization. BiotechnolBioeng, 2003. 84(6): p. 647-57; Pharkya, P., A. P. Burgard, and C. D.Maranas, Exploring the overproduction of amino acids using the bileveloptimization framework OptKnock. Biotechnol Bioeng, 2003. 84(7): p.887-99; Pharkya, P., A. P. Burgard, and C. D. Maranas, OptStrain: acomputational framework for redesign of microbial production systems.Genome Res, 2004. 14(11): p. 2367-76.). The resulting growth-coupledproduction strains will be inherently stable, self-optimizing, andsuited for batch, fed-batch, and continuous process designs.

In some embodiments, the invention is directed to an integratedcomputational and engineering platform for developing metabolicallyaltered microorganism strains having enhanced LCA producingcharacteristics. Strains identified via the computational component ofthe platform are put into actual production by genetically engineeringthe predicted metabolic alterations which lead to the enhancedproduction of LCA. Production of the desired product is coupled tooptimal growth of the microorganism to optimize yields of this productduring fermentation. In yet another embodiment, strains exhibitinggrowth-coupled production of LCA are further subjected to adaptiveevolution to further augment product biosynthesis. The levels ofgrowth-coupled product production following adaptive evolution also canbe predicted by the computational component of the system where, in thisspecific embodiment, the elevated product levels are realized onlyfollowing evolution.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturally occurringmicrobial organism, that includes one or more gene disruptions. Thedisruptions occur in genes encoding an enzyme that couples LCAproduction to growth of the organism when the gene disruption reducesthe activity of the enzyme, such that the gene disruptions confer stablegrowth-coupled production of LCA onto the non-naturally occurringorganism.

In particular embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturallyoccurring eukaryotic organism, that includes one or more genedisruptions. The one or more gene disruptions occur in genes that encodeenzymes that include, for example a cytosolic pyruvate decarboxylase, amitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase, a cytosolic ethanol-specificalcohol dehydrogenase or a mitochondrial ethanol-specific alcoholdehydrogenase. These gene disruptions confer production of long chainalcohols in the cytosol or mitochondrion (vide infra) of the organism.

Further, the present invention provides methods of producing suchnon-naturally microbial organisms having stable growth-coupledproduction of LCA. For LCA production, for example, the method includes:(a) identifying in silico a set of metabolic modifications requiring LCAproduction during cell growth, and (b) genetically modifying amicroorganism to contain the set of metabolic modifications requiringLCA production.

One consideration for bioprocessing is whether to use a batch orcontinuous fermentation scheme. One difference between the two schemesthat will influence the amount of product produced is the presence of apreparation, lag, and stationary phase for the batch scheme in additionto the exponential growth phase. In contrast, continuous processes arekept in a state of constant exponential growth and, if properlyoperated, can run for many months at a time. For growth-associated andmixed-growth-associated product formation, continuous processes providemuch higher productivities (i.e., dilution rate times cell mass) due tothe elimination of the preparation, lag, and stationary phases. Forexample, given the following reasonable assumptions:

Monod kinetics (i.e., μ=μ_(m)·S/(K_(s)+S))

μ_(m)=1.0 hr⁻¹

final cell concentration/initial cell concentration=20

t_(prep)+t_(log)+t_(stat)=5 hr

feed concentration of limiting nutrient>>Ks

increased productivity from a continuous process has been estimated at8-fold, Shuler et al, Prentice Hall, Inc.: Upper Saddle River, N.J.,245-247.

Despite advantages in productivity, many more batch processes are inoperation than continuous processes for a number of reasons. First, fornon-growth associated product formation (e.g., penicillin), theproductivity of a batch system may significantly exceed that of acontinuous process because the latter would have to operate at very lowdilution rates. Next, production strains generally have undergonemodifications to their genetic material to improve their biochemical orprotein production capabilities. These specialized strains are likely togrow less rapidly than their parental complements whereas continuousprocesses such as those employing chemostats (fermenters operated incontinuous mode) impose large selection pressures for the fastestgrowing cells. Cells containing recombinant DNA or carrying pointmutations leading to the desired overproduction phenotype aresusceptible to back-mutation into the original less productive parentalstrain. It also is possible for strains having single gene deletions todevelop compensatory mutations that will tend to restore the wild-typegrowth phenotype. The faster growing cells usually out-compete theirmore productive counterparts for limiting nutrients, drasticallyreducing productivity. Batch processes, on the other hand, limit thenumber of generations available by not reusing cells at the end of eachcycle, thus decreasing the probability of the production strainreverting back to its wild-type phenotype. Finally, continuous processesare more difficult to operate long-term due to potential engineeringobstacles such as equipment failure and foreign organism contamination.The consequences of such failures also are much more considerable for acontinuous process than with a batch culture.

For small-volume production of specialty chemicals and/or proteins, theproductivity increases of continuous processes rarely outweigh the risksassociated with strain stability and reliability. However, for theproduction of large-volume, growth-associated products such as LCA, theincreases in productivity for a continuous process can result insignificant economic gains when compared to a batch process. Althoughthe engineering obstacles associated with continuous bioprocessoperation would always be present, the strain stability concerns can beovercome through metabolic engineering strategies that reroute metabolicpathways to reduce or avoid negative selective pressures and favorproduction of the target product during the exponential growth phase.

One computational method for identifying and designing metabolicalterations favoring growth-coupled production of a product is theOptKnock computational framework, Burgard et al., Biotechnol Bioeng, 84:647-57 (2003). OptKnock is a metabolic modeling and simulation programthat suggests gene disruption strategies that result in geneticallystable microorganisms which overproduce the target product.Specifically, the framework examines the complete metabolic and/orbiochemical network of a microorganism in order to suggest geneticmanipulations that force the desired biochemical to become a byproductof cell growth. By coupling biochemical production with cell growththrough strategically placed gene deletions or other functional genedisruption, the growth selection pressures imposed on the engineeredstrains after long periods of time in a bioreactor lead to improvementsin performance as a result of the compulsory growth-coupled biochemicalproduction.

The concept of growth-coupled biochemical production can be visualizedin the context of the biochemical production envelopes of a typicalmetabolic network calculated using an in silico model. These limits areobtained by fixing the uptake rate(s) of the limiting substrate(s) totheir experimentally measured value(s) and calculating the maximum andminimum rates of biochemical production at each attainable level ofgrowth. Although exceptions exist, typically the production of a desiredbiochemical is in direct competition with biomass formation forintracellular resources. Thus, enhanced rates of biochemical productionwill necessarily result in sub-maximal growth rates. The disruptionssuggested by OptKnock are designed to restrict the allowable solutionboundaries forcing a change in metabolic behavior from the wild-typestrain as depicted in FIG. 2. Although the actual solution boundariesfor a given strain will expand or contract as the substrate uptakerate(s) increase or decrease, each experimental point should lie withinits calculated solution boundary. Plots such as these enable one tovisualize how close strains are to their performance limits or, in otherwords, how much room is available for improvement. The OptKnockframework has already been able to identify promising gene disruptionstrategies for biochemical overproduction, (Burgard, A. P., P. Pharkya,and C. D. Maranas, Biotechnol Bioeng, 84(6):647-657 (2003); Pharkya, P.,A. P. Burgard, and C. D. Maranas, Biotechnol Bioeng, 84(7):887-899(2003)) and establishes a systematic framework that will naturallyencompass future improvements in metabolic and regulatory modelingframeworks.

Lastly, when gene deletions are constructed there is a negligiblepossibility of the designed strains reverting to their wild-type statesbecause the genes selected by OptKnock are to be completely removed fromthe genome.

Briefly, OptKnock is a term used herein to refer to a computationalmethod and system for modeling cellular metabolism. The OptKnock programrelates to a framework of models and methods that incorporate particularconstraints into flux balance analysis (FBA) models. These constraintsinclude, for example, qualitative kinetic information, qualitativeregulatory information, and/or DNA microarray experimental data.OptKnock also computes solutions to various metabolic problems by, forexample, tightening the flux boundaries derived through flux balancemodels and subsequently probing the performance limits of metabolicnetworks in the presence of gene additions or disruptions. OptKnockcomputational framework allows the construction of model formulationsthat enable an effective query of the performance limits of metabolicnetworks and provides methods for solving the resulting mixed-integerlinear programming problems. The metabolic modeling and simulationmethods referred to herein as OptKnock are described in, for example,U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/043,440, filed Jan. 10, 2002, and inInternational Patent No. PCT/US02/00660, filed Jan. 10, 2002.

Another computational method for identifying and designing metabolicalterations favoring growth-coupled production of a product is metabolicmodeling and simulation system termed SimPheny®. This computationalmethod and system is described in, for example, U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/173,547, filed Jun. 14, 2002, and in International PatentApplication No. PCT/US03/18838, filed Jun. 13, 2003.

SimPheny® is a computational system that can be used to produce anetwork model in silico and to simulate the flux of mass, energy orcharge through the chemical reactions of a biological system to define asolution space that contains any and all possible functionalities of thechemical reactions in the system, thereby determining a range of allowedactivities for the biological system. This approach is referred to asconstraints-based modeling because the solution space is defined byconstraints such as the known stoichiometry of the included reactions aswell as reaction thermodynamic and capacity constraints associated withmaximum fluxes through reactions. The space defined by these constraintscan be interrogated to determine the phenotypic capabilities andbehavior of the biological system or of its biochemical components.Analysis methods such as convex analysis, linear programming and thecalculation of extreme pathways as described, for example, in Schillinget al., J. Theor. Biol. 203:229-248 (2000); Schilling et al., Biotech.Bioeng. 71:286-306 (2000) and Schilling et al., Biotech. Prog.15:288-295 (1999), can be used to determine such phenotypiccapabilities.

As described above, one constraints-based method used in thecomputational programs applicable to the invention is flux balanceanalysis. Flux balance analysis is based on flux balancing in a steadystate condition and can be performed as described in, for example, Varmaand Palsson, Biotech. Bioeng. 12:994-998 (1994). Flux balance approacheshave been applied to reaction networks to simulate or predict systemicproperties of, for example, adipocyte metabolism as described in Felland Small, J. Biochem. 138:781-786 (1986), acetate secretion from E.coli under ATP maximization conditions as described in Majewski andDomach, Biotech. Bioeng. 35:732-738 (1990) or ethanol secretion by yeastas described in Vanrolleghem et al., Biotech. Prog. 12:434-448 (1996).Additionally, this approach can be used to predict or simulate thegrowth of S. cerevisiae on a variety of single-carbon sources as well asthe metabolism of H. influenzae as described in Edwards and Palsson,Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 97:5528-5533 (2000), Edwards and Palsson, J. Bio.Chem. 274:17410-17416 (1999) and Edwards et al., Nature Biotech.19:125-130 (2001).

Once the solution space has been defined, it can be analyzed todetermine possible solutions under various conditions. Thiscomputational approach is consistent with biological realities becausebiological systems are flexible and can reach the same result in manydifferent ways. Biological systems are designed through evolutionarymechanisms that have been restricted by fundamental constraints that allliving systems must face. Therefore, constraints-based modeling strategyembraces these general realities. Further, the ability to continuouslyimpose further restrictions on a network model via the tightening ofconstraints results in a reduction in the size of the solution space,thereby enhancing the precision with which physiological performance orphenotype can be predicted.

Given the teachings and guidance provided herein, those skilled in theart will be able to apply various computational frameworks for metabolicmodeling and simulation to design and implement growth-coupledproduction of a biochemical product. Such metabolic modeling andsimulation methods include, for example, the computational systemsexemplified above as SimPheny® and OptKnock. For simplicity inillustrating the invention, the methods and strains will be describedherein with reference to the OptKnock computation framework for modelingand simulation. Those skilled in the art will know how to apply theidentification, design and implementation of the metabolic alterationsusing OptKnock to any of such other metabolic modeling and simulationcomputational frameworks and methods well known in the art.

The ability of a cell or organism to couple growth to the production ofa biochemical product can be illustrated in the context of thebiochemical production limits of a typical metabolic network calculatedusing an in silico model. These limits are obtained by fixing the uptakerate(s) of the limiting substrate(s) to their experimentally measuredvalue(s) and calculating the maximum and minimum rates of biochemicalproduction at each attainable level of growth. As shown in FIG. 2, theproduction of a desired biochemical generally is in direct competitionwith biomass formation for intracellular resources. Under thesecircumstances, enhanced rates of biochemical production will necessarilyresult in sub-maximal growth rates. The disruptions suggested by theabove metabolic modeling and simulation programs such as OptKnock aredesigned to restrict the allowable solution boundaries forcing a changein metabolic behavior from the wild-type strain as depicted in FIG. 2.Although the actual solution boundaries for a given strain will expandor contract as the substrate uptake rate(s) increase or decrease, eachexperimental point will lie within its calculated solution boundary.Plots such as these enable accurate predictions of how close thedesigned strains are to their performance limits which also indicateshow much room is available for improvement.

The OptKnock mathematical framework is exemplified herein forpinpointing gene disruptions leading to growth-coupled biochemicalproduction as illustrated in FIG. 2. The procedure builds uponconstraint-based metabolic modeling which narrows the range of possiblephenotypes that a cellular system can display through the successiveimposition of governing physico-chemical constraints, Price et al., NatRev Microbiol, 2: 886-97 (2004). As described above, constraint-basedmodels and simulations are well known in the art and generally invokethe optimization of a particular cellular objective, subject to networkstoichiometry, to suggest a likely flux distribution.

Briefly, the maximization of a cellular objective quantified as anaggregate reaction flux for a steady state metabolic network comprisinga set N={1, . . . , N} of metabolites and a set M={1, . . . , M} ofmetabolic reactions is expressed mathematically as follows:

     maximize  v_(cellular  objective)$\mspace{76mu}{{{{subject}\mspace{14mu}{to}\mspace{14mu}{\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{M}\;{S_{ij}v_{j}}}} = 0},{\forall{i \in N}}}$v_(substrate) = v_(substrate_(—)uptake)  mmol/gDW ⋅ hr  ∀i ∈ {limiting  substrate(s)}     v_(atp) ≥ v_(atp_(—)main)  mmol/gDW ⋅ hr     v_(j) ≥ 0, ∀j ∈ {irrev.  reactions}

where S_(ij) is the stoichiometric coefficient of metabolite i inreaction j, v_(j) is the flux of reaction j, v_(substrate) _(_)_(uptake) represents the assumed or measured uptake rate(s) of thelimiting substrate(s), and V_(atp) _(_) _(main) is the non-growthassociated ATP maintenance requirement. The vector v includes bothinternal and external fluxes. In this study, the cellular objective isoften assumed to be a drain of biosynthetic precursors in the ratiosrequired for biomass formation, Neidhardt, F. C. et al., 2nd ed. 1996,Washington, D.C.: ASM Press. 2 v. (xx, 2822, 1xxvi). The fluxes aregenerally reported per 1 gDW·hr (gram of dry weight times hour) suchthat biomass formation is expressed as g biomass produced/gDW·hr or1/hr.

The modeling of gene deletions, and thus reaction elimination, firstemploys the incorporation of binary variables into the constraint-basedapproach framework, Burgard et al., Biotechnol Bioeng, 74: 364-375(2001), Burgard et al., Biotechnol Prog, 17: 791-797 (2001). Thesebinary variables,

$y_{j} = \left\{ {\begin{matrix}{{1,{{if}\mspace{14mu}{reaction}\mspace{14mu}{flux}\mspace{14mu} v_{j}\mspace{14mu}{is}\mspace{14mu}{active}}}\mspace{45mu}} \\{0,{{if}\mspace{14mu}{reaction}\mspace{14mu}{flux}\mspace{14mu} v_{j}\mspace{14mu}{is}\mspace{14mu}{not}\mspace{14mu}{active}}}\end{matrix},{\forall{j \in M}}} \right.$assume a value of 1 if reaction j is active and a value of 0 if it isinactive. The following constraint,

v_(j)^(min) ⋅ y_(j) ≤ v_(j) ≤ v_(j)^(max) ⋅ y_(j), ∀j ∈ M

ensures that reaction flux v_(j) is set to zero only if variable y_(j)is equal to zero. Alternatively, when y_(j) is equal to one, v_(j) isfree to assume any value between a lower v_(j) ^(min) and an upper v_(j)^(max) bound. Here, v_(j) ^(min) and v_(j) ^(max) are are identified byminimizing and maximizing, respectively, every reaction flux subject tothe network constraints described above, Mahadevan et al., Metab Eng, 5:264-76 (2003).

Optimal gene/reaction disruptions are identified by solving a bileveloptimization problem that chooses the set of active reactions (y_(j)=1)such that an optimal growth solution for the resulting networkoverproduces the chemical of interest. Schematically, this bileveloptimization problem is illustrated in FIG. 2. Mathematically, thisbilevel optimization problem is expressed as the following bilevelmixed-integer optimization problem:

$\underset{y_{j}}{maximize}\mspace{124mu} v_{chemical}\mspace{320mu}({OptKnock})$$\begin{pmatrix}{\underset{v_{j}}{{subject}\mspace{14mu}{to}}\mspace{76mu}} & {maximize} & {v_{biomass}\mspace{191mu}} & \; \\\; & {{subject}\mspace{14mu}{to}} & {{{{\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{M}\;{S_{ij}v_{j}}} = 0},}\mspace{121mu}} & {{\forall{i \in N}}\mspace{211mu}} \\\; & \; & {v_{substrate} = v_{{substrate}_{—}{uptake}}} & {\forall{i \in \left\{ {{limiting}\mspace{14mu}{{substrate}(s)}} \right\}}} \\\; & \; & {{v_{atp} \geq v_{{atp}_{—}{main}}}\mspace{101mu}} & \; \\{v_{biomass} \geq v_{biomass}^{target}} & \; & \; & \;\end{pmatrix}$ v_(j)^(min) ⋅ y_(j) ≤ v_(j) ≤ v_(j)^(max) ⋅ y_(j), ∀j ∈ M${\sum\limits_{j \in M^{forward}}\left( {1 - y_{j}} \right)} = K$y_(j) ∈ {0, 1}, ∀j ∈ Mwhere v_(chemical) is the production of the desired target product, forexample LCA or other biochemical product, and K is the number ofallowable knockouts. Note that setting K equal to zero returns themaximum biomass solution of the complete network, while setting K equalto one identifies the single gene/reaction knockout (y_(j)=0) such thatthe resulting network involves the maximum overproduction given itsmaximum biomass yield. The final constraint ensures that the resultingnetwork meets a minimum biomass yield. Burgard et al., BiotechnolBioeng, 84: 647-57 (2003), provide a more detailed description of themodel formulation and solution procedure. Problems containing hundredsof binary variables can be solved in the order of minutes to hours usingCPLEX 8.0, GAMS: The Solver Manuals. 2003: GAMS Development Corporation,accessed via the GAMS, Brooke et al., GAMS Development Corporation(1998), modeling environment on an IBM RS6000-270 workstation. TheOptKnock framework has already been able to identify promising genedisruption strategies for biochemical overproduction, Burgard et al.,Biotechnol Bioeng, 84: 647-57 (2003), Pharkya et al., Biotechnol Bioeng,84: 887-899 (2003), and establishes a systematic framework that willnaturally encompass future improvements in metabolic and regulatorymodeling frameworks.

Any solution of the above described bilevel OptKnock problem willprovide one set of metabolic reactions to disrupt. Elimination of eachreaction within the set or metabolic modification can result in LCA as aproduct during the growth phase of the organism. Because the reactionsare known, a solution to the bilevel OptKnock problem also will providethe associated gene or genes encoding one or more enzymes that catalyzeeach reaction within the set of reactions. Identification of a set ofreactions and their corresponding genes encoding the enzymesparticipating in each reaction is generally an automated process,accomplished through correlation of the reactions with a reactiondatabase having a relationship between enzymes and encoding genes.

Once identified, the set of reactions that are to be disrupted in orderto achieve growth-coupled LCA production are implemented in the targetcell or organism by functional disruption of at least one gene encodingeach metabolic reaction within the set. As described previously, oneparticularly useful means to achieve functional disruption of thereaction set is by deletion of each encoding gene. However, in someinstances, it can be beneficial to disrupt the reaction by other geneticaberrations including, for example, mutation, deletion of regulatoryregions such as promoters or cis binding sites for regulatory factors,or by truncation of the coding sequence at any of a number of locations.These latter aberrations, resulting in less than total deletion of thegene set can be useful, for example, when rapid assessments of theproduct coupling are desired or when genetic reversion is less likely tooccur.

To identify additional productive solutions to the above describedbilevel OptKnock problem which lead to further sets of reactions todisrupt or metabolic modifications that can result in the growth-coupledproduction of LCA, or other biochemical products, an optimizationmethod, termed integer cuts, can be implemented. This method proceeds byiteratively solving the OptKnock problem exemplified above with theincorporation of an additional constraint referred to as an integer cutat each iteration. Integer cut constraints effectively prevent thesolution procedure from choosing the exact same set of reactionsidentified in any previous iteration that couples product biosynthesisto growth. For example, if a previously identified growth-coupledmetabolic modification specifies reactions 1, 2, and 3 for disruption,then the following constraint prevents the same reactions from beingsimultaneously considered in subsequent solutions: y₁+y₂+y₂≥1. Theinteger cut method is well known in the art and can be found describedin, for example, reference, Burgard et al., Biotechnol Prog, 17: 791-797(2001). As with all methods described herein with reference to their usein combination with the OptKnock computational framework for metabolicmodeling and simulation, the integer cut method of reducing redundancyin iterative computational analysis also can be applied with othercomputational frameworks well known in the art including, for example,SimPheny.

Constraints of the above form preclude identification of larger reactionsets that include previously identified sets. For example, employing theinteger cut optimization method above in a further iteration wouldpreclude identifying a quadruple reaction set that specified reactions1, 2, and 3 for disruption since these reactions had been previouslyidentified. To ensure identification of all possible reaction setsleading to growth-coupled production of a product, a modification of theinteger cut method was employed.

Briefly, the modified integer cut procedure begins with iteration ‘zero’which calculates the maximum production of the desired biochemical atoptimal growth for a wild-type network. This calculation corresponds toan OptKnock solution with K equaling 0. Next, single disruptions areconsidered and the two parameter sets, objstore_(iter) andystore_(iter,j), are introduced to store the objective function(v_(chemical)) and reaction on-off information (y_(j)), respectively, ateach iteration, iter. The following constraints are then successivelyadded to the OptKnock formulation at each iteration.v _(chemical)≥objstore_(iter) +ε−M·Σ _(j∈ystore) _(iter, j) ₌₀ y _(j)

In the above equation, ε and M are a small and a large numbers,respectively. In general, ε can be set at about 0.01 and M can be set atabout 1000. However, numbers smaller and/or larger then these numbersalso can be used. M ensures that the constraint can be binding only forpreviously identified disruption strategies, while ε ensures that addingdisruptions to a previously identified strategy must lead to an increaseof at least ε in biochemical production at optimal growth. The approachmoves onto double disruptions whenever a single disruption strategyfails to improve upon the wild-type strain. Triple disruptions are thenconsidered when no double disruption strategy improves upon thewild-type strain, and so on. The end result is a ranked list,represented as desired biochemical production at optimal growth, ofdistinct disruption strategies that differ from each other by at leastone disruption. This optimization procedure as well as theidentification of a wide variety of reaction sets that, when disrupted,lead to the growth-coupled production of a biochemical product areexemplified in detail further below. Given the teachings and guidanceprovided herein, those skilled in the art will understand that themethods and metabolic engineering designs exemplified herein areapplicable to the coupling of cell or microorganism growth to anybiochemical product.

Employing the methods exemplified above, the methods of the inventionenable the construction of cells and organisms that couple theproduction of a target biochemical product to growth of the cell ororganism engineered to harbor the identified genetic alterations. Inthis regard, metabolic alterations have been identified thatobligatorily couple the production of LCA to organism growth. Microbialorganism strains constructed with the identified metabolic alterationsproduce elevated levels of LCA during the exponential growth phase.These strains can be beneficially used for the commercial production ofLCA in continuous fermentation process without being subjected to thenegative selective pressures described previously.

Therefore, the methods of the invention provide a set of metabolicmodifications that are identified by an in silico method selected fromOptKnock. The set of metabolic modifications can include functionaldisruption of one or more metabolic reactions including, for example,disruption by gene deletion. For LCA production metabolic modificationscan be selected from the set of metabolic modifications listed in Table1.

Also provided is a method of producing a non-naturally occurringmicrobial organism having stable growth-coupled production of LCA. Themethod includes: (a) identifying in silico a set of metabolicmodifications requiring LCA production during exponential growth; (b)genetically modifying an organism to contain the set of metabolicmodifications requiring product production, and culturing thegenetically modified organism. Culturing can include adaptively evolvingthe genetically modified organism under conditions requiring productproduction. The methods of the invention are applicable to bacterium,yeast and fungus as well as a variety of other cells and microorganism.Exemplary bacteria include species selected from E. coli,Anaerobiospirillum succiniciproducens, Actinobacillus succinogenes,Mannheimia succiniciproducens, Rhizobium etli, Bacillus subtilis,Corynebacterium glutamicum, Gluconobacter oxydans, Zymomonas mobilis,Lactococcus lactis, Lactobacillus plantarum, Streptomyces coelicolor,Clostridium acetobutylicum, Pseudomonas fluorescens, and Pseudomonasputida. Exemplary eukaryotic organisms include species selected fromSaccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Kluyveromyceslactis, Kluyveromyces marxianus, Aspergillus terreus, Aspergillus niger,Rhizopus arrhizus, Rhizopus oryzae, and Pichia pastoris.

A microbial organism produced by the methods of the invention is furtherprovided. Additionally, the invention provides a non-naturally occurringmicrobial organism comprising one or more gene disruptions encoding anenzyme associated with growth-coupled production of LCA and exhibitingstable growth-coupled production of these products. The non-naturallyoccurring microbial organism of the invention includes one or more genedisruptions occurring in genes encoding an enzyme obligatorily couplingLCA production to growth of the microbial organism when the genedisruption reduces an activity of the enzyme, whereby the one or moregene disruptions confers stable growth-coupled production of LCA ontothe non-naturally occurring microbial organism.

The non-naturally occurring microbial organism can have one or more genedisruptions included in a metabolic modification listed in Table 1. Theone or more gene disruptions can be a deletion. The non-naturallyoccurring microbial organism of the invention can be selected from agroup of microbial organism having a metabolic modification listed inTables 1. Non-naturally occurring microbial organisms of the inventioninclude bacteria, yeast, fungus, or any of a variety of othermicroorganisms applicable to fermentation processes. Exemplary bacteriainclude species selected from E. coli, A. succiniciproducens, A.succinogenes, M. succiniciproducens, R. etli, Bacillus subtilis, C.glutamicum, G. oxydans, Z. mobilis, L. lactis, L. plantarum, S.coelicolor, C. acetobutylicum, P. fluorescens, and P. putida. Exemplaryeukaryotic organisms include species selected from S. cerevisiae, S.pombe, K. lactis, K. marxianus, A. terreus, A. niger, R. arrhizus, R.oryzae, and P. pastoris.

The microbial organisms having growth-coupled LCA production areexemplified herein with reference to an Escherichia coli geneticbackground. However, with the complete genome sequence available for nowmore than 550 species (with more than half of these available on publicdatabases such as the NCBI), including 395 microorganism genomes and avariety of yeast, fungi, plant, and mammalian genomes, theidentification of an alternate species homolog for one or more genes,including for example, orthologs, paralogs and nonorthologous genedisplacements, and the interchange of genetic alterations betweenorganisms is routine and well known in the art. Accordingly, themetabolic alterations enabling growth-coupled production of LCAdescribed herein with reference to a particular organism such asEscherichia coli can be readily applied to other microorganisms. Giventhe teachings and guidance provided herein, those skilled in the artwill know that a metabolic alteration exemplified in one organism can beapplied equally to other organisms.

As described previously, homologues can include othologs and/ornonorthologous gene displacements. In some instances, such as when asubstitute metabolic pathway exists in the species of interest,functional disruption can be accomplished by, for example, deletion of aparalog that catalyzes a similar, yet non-identical metabolic reactionwhich replaces the referenced reaction. Because certain differencesamong metabolic networks between different organisms, those skilled inthe art will understand that the actual genes disrupted betweendifferent organisms may differ. However, the given the teachings andguidance provided herein, those skilled in the art also will understandthat the methods of the invention can be applied to all microorganismsto identify the cognate metabolic alterations between organisms and toconstruct an organism in a species of interest that will enhance thecoupling of LCA biosynthesis to growth.

The invention will be described herein with general reference to themetabolic reaction, reactant or product thereof, or with specificreference to one or more genes associated with the referenced metabolicreaction, reactant or product. Unless otherwise expressly stated herein,those skilled in the art will understand that reference to a reactionalso constitutes reference to the reactants and products of thereaction. Similarly, unless otherwise expressly stated herein, referenceto a reactant or product also references the reaction and that referenceto any of these metabolic constitutes also references the gene or genesencoding the enzymes that catalyze the referenced reaction, reactant orproduct. Likewise, given the well known fields of metabolicbiochemistry, enzymology and genomics, reference herein to a gene alsoconstitutes a reference to the corresponding encoded enzyme and thereaction it catalyzes as well as the reactants and products of thereaction. As described previously and further below, exemplaryreactions, reaction nomenclature, reactants, products, cofactors andgenes encoding enzymes catalyzing a reaction involved in thegrowth-coupled production of LCA are set forth in Tables 2 and 3.

The invention provides non naturally occurring microbial organismshaving growth-coupled production of LCA. Product production isobligatorily linked to the exponential growth phase of the microorganismby genetically altering the metabolic pathways of the cell. The geneticalterations make the desired product a product during the growth phase.Sets of metabolic alterations or transformations that result in elevatedlevels of LCA biosynthesis are exemplified in Table 1, respectively.Each alteration within a set corresponds to the requisite metabolicreaction that should be functionally disrupted. Functional disruption ofall reactions within each set results in the production of LCA by theengineered strain during the growth phase. The corresponding reactionsto the referenced alterations and the gene or genes that potentiallyencode them in Escherichia coli, are set forth in Table 2. The variousmetabolites, their abbreviations and location are set forth in Table 3.

For example, for each strain exemplified in Table 1, the metabolicalterations that can be generated for growth coupled LCA production areshown in each row. These alterations include the functional disruptionof from one to six or more reactions. In particular, 995 strains areexemplified in Table 1 that have non-naturally occurring metabolicgenotypes. Each of these non-naturally occurring alterations result inan enhanced level of LCA production during the exponential growth phaseof the microbial organism compared to a wild-type strain, underappropriate culture conditions. Appropriate conditions include, forexample, those exemplified further below in the Example I such asparticular carbon sources or reactant availabilities and/or adaptiveevolution.

Given the teachings and guidance provided herein, those skilled in theart will understand that to disrupt an enzymatic reaction it isnecessary to disrupt the catalytic activity of the one or more enzymesinvolved in the reaction. Disruption can occur by a variety of meansincluding, for example, deletion of an encoding gene or incorporation ofa genetic alteration in one or more of the encoding gene sequences. Theencoding genes targeted for disruption can be one, some, or all of thegenes encoding enzymes involved in the catalytic activity. For example,where a single enzyme is involved in a targeted catalytic activitydisruption can occur by a genetic alteration that reduces or destroysthe catalytic activity of the encoded gene product. Similarly, where thesingle enzyme is multimeric, including heteromeric, disruption can occurby a genetic alteration that reduces or destroys the function of one orall subunits of the encoded gene products. Destruction of activity canbe accomplished by loss of the binding activity of one or more subunitsin order to form an active complex, by destruction of the catalyticsubunit of the multimeric complex or by both. Other functions ofmultimeric protein association and activity also can be targeted inorder to disrupt a metabolic reaction of the invention. Such otherfunctions are well known to those skilled in the art. Further, some orall of the functions of a single polypeptide or multimeric complex canbe disrupted according to the invention in order to reduce or abolishthe catalytic activity of one or more enzymes involved in a reaction ormetabolic modification of the invention. Similarly, some or all ofenzymes involved in a reaction or metabolic modification of theinvention can be disrupted so long as the targeted reaction is reducedor destroyed.

Given the teachings and guidance provided herein, those skilled in theart also will understand that an enzymatic reaction can be disrupted byreducing or eliminating reactions encoded by a common gene and/or by oneor more orthologs of that gene exhibiting similar or substantially thesame activity. Reduction of both the common gene and all orthologs canlead to complete abolishment of any catalytic activity of a targetedreaction. However, disruption of either the common gene or one or moreorthologs can lead to a reduction in the catalytic activity of thetargeted reaction sufficient to promote coupling of growth to productbiosynthesis. Exemplified herein are both the common genes encodingcatalytic activities for a variety of metabolic modifications as well astheir orthologs. Those skilled in the art will understand thatdisruption of some or all of the genes encoding a enzyme of a targetedmetabolic reaction can be practiced in the methods of the invention andincorporated into the non-naturally occurring microbial organisms of theinvention in order to achieve the growth-coupled product production.

Herein below are described the designs identified for increasing LCAproduction in Escherichia coli. The OptKnock algorithm identifieddesigns based on a stoichiometric model of Escherichia coli metabolism.Assumptions include (i) a glucose uptake rate of 10 mmol/gdw/hr; (ii)anaerobic or microaerobic conditions; and (iii) a minimum non-growthassociated maintenance requirement of 3 mmol/gdw/hr. Dodecanol, a C₁₂molecule, was chosen as an exemplary long chain alcohol whose productioncan be coupled to growth following the teachings of this invention.Although glucose was assumed to be the growth substrate, it isunderstood that the strategies are applicable to any substrate includingglucose, sucrose, xylose, arabinose, or glycerol. The complete set ofgrowth-coupled LCA productions designs are listed in Table 1. The enzymenames, their abbreviations, and the corresponding reactionstoichiometries are listed in Table 2. Finally, metabolites namescorresponding to the abbreviations in the reaction equations are listedin Table 3. Although the designs were identified using a metabolic modelof E. coli metabolism, and the gene names listed in Table 2 are specificto E. coli, the method of choosing the metabolic engineering strategiesand also the designs themselves are applicable to any LCA-producingorganism. Thus the designs are essentially lists of enzymatictransformations whose activity must be either eliminated, attenuated, orinitially absent from a microorganism to enable the growth coupledproduction of long chain alcohols.

One criterion for prioritizing the final selection of designs was thegrowth-coupled yield of dodecanol. To examine this, production coneswere constructed for each strategy by first maximizing and, subsequentlyminimizing the dodecanol yields at different rates of biomass formation(as described in the previous section). If the rightmost boundary of allpossible phenotypes of the mutant network is a single point, it impliesthat there is a unique optimum yield of the product at the maximumbiomass formation rate possible in the network. In other cases, therightmost boundary of the feasible phenotypes is a vertical line,indicating that at the point of maximum biomass the network can make anyamount of the dodecanol in the calculated range, including the lowestamount at the bottommost point of the vertical line. Such designs weregiven a lower priority. A short list of the highest priority OptKnockdesigns is provided here in Table I which represents a subset of thedesigns of Table 1.

TABLE I Design Enzyme activity Abbreviation Other notes IAcetaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenase ADHEr D-lactate dehydrogenase LDH_D IIAcetaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenase ADHEr Design I + PFL D-lactatedehydrogenase LDH_D Pyruvate formate lyase PFLi III Acetaldehyde-CoAdehydrogenase ADHEr Design II + FRD2 D-lactate dehydrogenase LDH_DPyruvate formate lyase PFLi Fumarate reductase FRD2 IV Acetaldehyde-CoAdehydrogenase ADHEr Design II + FUM D-lactate dehydrogenase LDH_DPyruvate formate lyase PFLi Fumarase FUM V Acetaldehyde-CoAdehydrogenase ADHEr Design II + MDH D-lactate dehydrogenase LDH_DPyruvate formate lyase PFLi Malate dehydrogenase MDH VI Acetaldehyde-CoAdehydrogenase ADHEr Design III + GLUDy D-lactate dehydrogenase LDH_DPyruvate formate lyase PFLi Fumarate reductase FRD2 Glutamatedehydrogenase GLUDy VII Acetaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenase ADHEr Design IV +GLUDy D-lactate dehydrogenase LDH_D Pyruvate formate lyase PFLi FumaraseFUM Glutamate dehydrogenase GLUDy VIII Acetaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenaseADHEr Design V + GLUDy D-lactate dehydrogenase LDH_D Pyruvate formatelyase PFLi Malate dehydrogenase MDH Glutamate dehydrogenase GLUDy IXAcetaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenase ADHEr Design III + THD2 D-lactatedehydrogenase LDH_D Pyruvate formate lyase PFLi Fumarate reductase FRD2NAD(P) transhydrogenase THD2 X Acetaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenase ADHErDesign IV + THD2 D-lactate dehydrogenase LDH_D Pyruvate formate lyasePFLi Fumarase FUM NAD(P) transhydrogenase THD2 XI Acetaldehyde-CoAdehydrogenase ADHEr Design V + THD2 D-lactate dehydrogenase LDH_DPyruvate formate lyase PFLi Malate dehydrogenase MDH NAD(P)transhydrogenase THD2 XII Acetaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenase ADHEr DesignI + PTAr and/or ACKr D-lactate dehydrogenase LDH_D Phosphotransacetylaseand/or Acetate kinase PTAr and/or ACKr XIII Acetaldehyde-CoAdehydrogenase ADHEr Design XII + FRD2 D-lactate dehydrogenase LDH_DPhosphotransacetylase and/or Acetate kinase PTAr and/or ACKr Fumaratereductase FRD2 XIV Acetaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenase ADHEr Design XII + FUMD-lactate dehydrogenase LDH_D Phosphotransacetylase and/or Acetatekinase PTAr and/or ACKr Fumarase FUM XV Acetaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenaseADHEr Design XII + MDH D-lactate dehydrogenase LDH_DPhosphotransacetylase and/or Acetate kinase PTAr and/or ACKr Malatedehydrogenase MDH XVI Acetaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenase ADHEr Design I +FRD D-lactate dehydrogenase LDH_D Fumarate reductase FRD2 XVIIAcetaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenase ADHEr Design I + FUM D-lactatedehydrogenase LDH_D Fumarase FUM XVIII Acetaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenaseADHEr Design I + MDH D-lactate dehydrogenase LDH_D Malate dehydrogenaseMDH XIX Acetaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenase ADHEr Design XVI + ATPS4rD-lactate dehydrogenase LDH_D Fumarate reductase FRD2 ATP synthaseATPS4r XX Acetaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenase ADHEr Design XVII + ATPS4rD-lactate dehydrogenase LDH_D Fumarase FUM ATP synthase ATPS4r XXIAcetaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenase ADHEr Design XVIII + ATPS4r D-lactatedehydrogenase LDH_D Fumarate reductase MDH ATP synthase ATPS4r

All growth coupled designs in this document build upon Design I whichcalls for the joint disruption of acetylaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenase(ADHEr) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH_D) activities to reduce theformation of ethanol and lactate, respectively. A dodecanol yield of0.14 mol/mol glucose is predicted to be attained upon achieving amaximum growth rate of 0.20 1/hr (Design I, FIG. 3). Design II specifiesthe removal, attenuation, or absence of ADHEr, LDH_D, and pyruvateformate lyase (PFLi) and is predicted to result in a dodecanol yield of0.28 mol/mol glucose at maximum growth as shown in FIG. 4. A tightercoupling of LCA production to growth is attained by the furtherdisruption of fumarate reductase (FRD2), fumarase (FUM), or malatedehydrogenase (MDH) activity as indicated by the solution boundary ofDesigns III-V in FIG. 4. An even tighter coupling of production togrowth is attained by the further disruption of glutamate dehydrogenase(GLUDy) or NADP transhydrogenase (THD2) activity as shown in solutionboundary of Designs VI-XI in FIG. 4. Designs VI-XI actually require anon-insignificant yield of LCA, specifically, 0.05 mol dodecanol/molglucose, to enable a minimal amount of cell growth.

Design XII calls for the disruption of phosphotransacetylase (PTAr)and/or acetate kinase (ACKr) activity in addition to ADHEr and LDH_D toprevent or lessen the production of acetate, ethanol, and lactate,respectively. A dodecanol yield of 0.28 mol/mol is required to attain amaximum growth rate of 0.16 1/hr assuming a glucose uptake rate of 10mmol/gDW/hr as shown in FIG. 5. A tighter coupling of LCA production togrowth is attained by the further disruption of FRD2, FUM, or MDH asindicated by the solution boundary of Designs XIII-XV. Designs XVI-XVIIIspecify that the disruption of FRD2, FUM, or MDH activity in addition toADHEr and LDH_D results in a tighter coupling of dodecanol production tocell growth as compared to Design I as shown in FIG. 6. Furtherdisrupting ATP synthase activity in designs XIX-XXI is predicted toresult in a dodecanol yield of 0.30 mol/mol at a maximum growth rate of0.13 l/hr as shown in FIG. 6. The disruption of this activity forces theorganism to rely on the MI-LCA pathway for energy generation.Accordingly, a minimum dodecanol yield of 0.05 mol/mol is required forany growth to be attained assuming that the organism lacks theactivities listed in Designs XIX-XXI.

It is understood that the disruption of certain activities in additionto those listed by Designs I-XXI can lead to even higher productionyields as illustrated in the following examples. Design V_A involvesdisruption of Acetaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenase (ADHEr), lactatedehydrogenase (LDH_D), malate dehydrogenase (MDH), pyruvate formatelyase (PFLi), L-aspartase (ASPT), pyruvate kinase (PYK), glucose6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDHy), and dihydroxyacetonephosphotransferase (DHAPT). Upon addition of the MI-LCA pathway, anengineered strain containing disruptions in these activities ispredicted to have a growth-coupled dodecanol yield of 0.327 mol/molglucose at the maximum growth rate of 0.02 l/hr (FIG. 7, point A). Thiscorresponds to 98% of the maximum theoretical yield of 0.333 moldodecanol/mol glucose. The maximum growth rate of such a strain ispredicted to be approximately 10% of the wide type strain while aminimum dodecanol yield of 0.09 mol/mol is required for growth (FIG. 7,point B). A recombinant strain containing reduced activity ofthesefunctionalities can be constructed in a single step or in subsequentsteps by, for example, disrupting 2-3 activities each step. For example,one can engineer E. coli for growth coupled LCA production by firstremoving genes encoding ADHEr and LDH_D activities resulting in DesignI. Design V is then constructed by further deleting genes responsiblefor MDH and PFLi activities. Design V_A is then constructed by deletinggenes encoding ASPT, PYK, G6PDHy, and DHAPT activities. Finally, notethat several activities (i.e., 6-phosphogluconolactonase (PGL),phosphogluconate dehydratase (PGDHY), or2-dehydro-3-deoxy-phosphogluconate aldolase (EDA)) can replace G6PDHyfor disruption and yield the same characteristics as Design V_A.

Design XII_A involves disruption of Acetaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenase(ADHEr), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH_D), acetate kinase (ACKr) and/orphosphotransacetylase (PTAr), glutamate dehydrogenase (NADP) (GLUDy),phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (PGDH), and glucose-6-phosphate isomerase(PGI). Design XII_B involves disruption of Acetaldehyde-CoAdehydrogenase (ADHEr), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH_D), acetate kinase(ACKr) and/or phosphotransacetylase (PTAr), glutamate dehydrogenase(NADP) (GLUDy), phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (PGDH),glucose-6-phosphate isomerase (PGI), and D-glucose transport via PEP:PyrPTS (GLCpts). Upon addition of the MI-LCA pathway, an engineered strainlacking the activities specified by Design XII_B is predicted to have agrowth-coupled dodecanol yield of 0.322 mol/mol glucose at the maximumgrowth rate of 0.04 l/hr (FIG. 8, point A). This corresponds to 97% ofthe maximum theoretical yield of 0.333 mol dodecanol/mol glucose. Themaximum growth rate of such a strain is predicted to be approximately20% of the wild type strain while a minimum dodecanol yield of 0.05mol/mol is required for growth (FIG. 8, point B). A recombinant straincontaining reduced activity of these functionalities can be constructedin a single step or in subsequent steps by, for example, removingadditional activities each step. For example, one can engineer E. colifor growth coupled LCA production by first removing genes encoding ADHErand LDH_D activities resulting in Design I. Design XII is thenconstructed by further deleting genes encoding PTAr and/or ACKractivities. Design XII_A is then constructed by deleting the genesresponsible for GLUDy, PGDH, and PGI activities. Finally, Design XII_Bis constructed by further deleting a gene essential for GLCpts activity.

Accordingly, the invention also provides a non-naturally occurringmicrobial organism having a set of metabolic modifications coupling LCAproduction to growth of the organism, the set of metabolic modificationsincludes disruption of one or more genes selected from the set of genesencoding proteins that include an acetylaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenase and alactate dehydrogenase.

The present invention also provides a strain lacking the activitieslisted for Design I above that further lack at least one of thefollowing activities: pyruvate formate lyase (PFLi),phosphotransacetylase (PTAr), acetate kinase (ACKr), fumarate reductase(FRD2), fumarase (FUM), or malate dehydrogenase (MDH) as exemplified byDesigns II, XII, XVI, XVII, and XVIII.

In further embodiments, the invention provides a strain lacking theactivities listed for Design II above and further lacks at least one ofthe following activities: fumarate reductase (FRD2), fumarase (FUM), ormalate dehydrogenase (MDH) as exemplified by Designs III, IV, and V.

In still further embodiments, the invention provides strains lacking theactivities listed for Designs III, IV, or V, above and further lackglutamate dehydrogenase (GLUDy) activity as exemplified by Designs VI,VII, and VIII.

The invention also provides strains lacking the activities listed fordesigns III, IV, or V, above and further lack NAD(P) transhydrogenase(THD2) activity as exemplified by Designs IX, X, and XI.

In yet further embodiments, the invention provides a strain lacking theactivities listed for Design XII above and further lack at least one ofthe following activities: fumarate reductase (FRD2), fumarase (FUM), ormalate dehydrogenase (MDH) as exemplified by Designs XIII, XIV, and XV.

Finally, the invention provides strains lacking the activities listedfor designs XVI, XVII, and XVIII, above and further lack ATP synthase(ATPS4r) activity as exemplified by Designs XIX, XX, and XXI.

Herein below are described the pathways identified for increasing LCAproduction in S. cerevisiae. The OptKnock algorithm, described hereinfurther below, identified designs based on a stoichiometric model ofSaccharomyces cerevisaie metabolism. Assumptions include (i) a glucoseuptake rate of 10 mmol/gdw/hr; (ii) anaerobic or microaerobicconditions; and (iii) a minimum non-growth associated maintenancerequirement of 3 mmol/gdw/hr. Dodecanol, a C₁₂ molecule, was chosen asan exemplary long chain alcohol whose production can be coupled togrowth following the teachings of this invention. Although glucose wasassumed to be the growth substrate, it is understood that the methodsare applicable to any substrate including glucose, sucrose, xylose,arabinose, or glycerol. Although the designs were identified using ametabolic model of S. cerevisiae metabolism the method of choosing themetabolic engineering pathways and also the designs themselves areapplicable to any LCA-producing eukaryotic organism. Thus, the designsare essentially lists of enzymatic transformations whose activity mustbe either eliminated, attenuated, or initially absent from amicroorganism to enable the production of long chain alcohols.

One criterion for prioritizing the final selection of pathways was theyield of dodecanol. To examine this, production cones were constructedfor each set of pathways by first maximizing and, subsequentlyminimizing the dodecanol yields at different rates of biomass formation.If the rightmost boundary of all possible phenotypes of the mutantnetwork is a single point, it implies that there is a unique optimumyield of the product at the maximum biomass formation rate possible inthe network. In other cases, the rightmost boundary of the feasiblephenotypes is a vertical line, indicating that at the point of maximumbiomass the network can make any amount of the dodecanol in thecalculated range, including the lowest amount at the bottommost point ofthe vertical line. Such designs were given a lower priority.

The organisms of the present invention can be cultured in asubstantially anaerobic culture medium or a microaerobic culture mediumas detailed herein below further. Such organisms have one or more genedisruptions which may include complete deletion in some embodiments, ordisruption by removal or changes in functional portions encoded byfragments of the entire gene.

In some embodiments, the present invention provides non-naturallyoccurring eukaryotic microbial organisms that produce LCAs in thecytosol. Note that cytosol herein refers to any compartment outside themitochondrion. In such embodiments, one or more gene disruptions in theeukaryotic organism encoding an enzyme include, for example, a cytosolicpyruvate decarboxylase, a mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase, acytosolic ethanol-specific alcohol dehydrogenase and a mitochondrialethanol-specific alcohol dehydrogenase. Exemplary genes endocing theseenzymes include, for example, YLR044C, YLR134W, YGR087C, PDC3, YNL071W,YER178W, YBR221C, YGR193C, YFL018C, YBR145W, YGL256W, YOL086C, YMR303,YMR083W, YPL088W, YAL061W, YMR318C, YCR105W, and YDL168W.

Other gene disruptions encoding an enzyme include, for example, acytosolic malate dehydrogenase, a glycerol-3-phospate dehydrogenaseshuttle, an external NADH dehydrogenase, and an internal mitochondrialNADH dehydrogenase can also be effected. Exemplary genes of the laterinclude, for example, YOL126C, YDL022W, YOL059W, YIL155C, YMR145C,YDL085W, and YML120C.

These organisms can also include an exogenous nucleic acid encoding anenzyme in the cytosol including, for example, an acetyl-CoA synthetase(AMP-forming), an ADP-dependent acetate-CoA ligase, an acylatingacetaldehyde dehydrogenase, a pyruvate dehydrogenase, a pyruvate:NADPoxidoreductase, and a pyruvate formate lyase, or their correspondinggene regulatory regions. An exogenous nucleic acid encoding a cytosolictranshydrogenase or its gene regulatory region can also be incorporated.In some embodiments these gene products may be natively expressed in thecytosol, while in other embodiments, they may be overexpressed by, forexample, adding copies of the gene from the same source or from otherorganisms, or by introducing or changing gene regulatory regions. Suchgene regulatory regions include, for example, alternate promoters,inducible promoters, variant promoters or enhancers to enhance geneexpression. Functional disruption of negative regulatory elements suchas repressors and/or silencers also can be employed to enhance geneexpression. Similar modifications can be made to translation regulatoryregions to enhance polypeptide synthesis and include, for example,substitution of a ribosome binding site with an optimal or consensussequence and/or removing secondary structures.

These organisms maximize the availability of acetyl CoA, ATP andreducing equivalents (NADH) for dodecanol production. Acetyl CoA is theprimary carbon precursor for the production of LCA via the proposedMI-LCA route. All the reactions enabling the formation of dodecanol viathe malonyl-CoA independent pathway are operational in the cytosol.Specifically, ketoacyl-CoA thiolase, 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase,enoyl-CoA hydratase, and enoyl-CoA reductase function in the appropriatedirection to form acyl CoA which is then reduced to fatty aldehyde anddodecanol via acyl CoA reductase and alcohol dehydrogenase.

Introduction of the MI-LCA pathway in the cytosol prevented any fluxthrough the native pyruvate dehydrogenase in silico. Under anaerobicconditions and in conditions where glucose concentrations are high inthe medium, the capacity of this mitochondrial enzyme is very limitedand there is no significant flux through it. However, in someembodiments, this enzyme can be deleted or attenuated to increase LCAproduction.

In one embodiment, LCA production in the cytosol uses the AMP-formingacetyl-CoA synthetase. Dodecanol production in the cytosol relies on thenative cell machinery to provide the precursors needed in LCAproduction. A majority of the pyruvate flux generated by glycolysis ischanneled into the formation of acetyl CoA via the pyruvatedehydrogenase bypass comprised of the pyruvate decarboxylase, theacetaldehyde dehydrogenase and the AMP-forming acetyl-CoA synthetase(FIG. 9a ). This bypass is reported to have significant flux through iteven under aerobic conditions at high concentrations of glucose (Pronket al., Yeast 12:1607-1633 (1996)).

The last step of the bypass that converts acetate into acetyl-CoA iscatalyzed by acetyl-CoA synthetase, encoded by the ACS1 and ACS2 genes.Since ACS2 is constitutively expressed on glucose and is present incytosol among other compartments, in some embodiments the non-naturallyoccurring eukarotyic organism is engineered to overexpress ACS2. Inother embodiments the ACS2 gene is replaced with a mutant ACS fromSalmonellas enterica (Genbank id NP_807785.1) that is not subject topost-translational modification and has higher activity in S. cerevisiaeas compared to ACS1 or ACS2 (Shiba et al., Metab Eng. 9:160-168 (2007)).

The AMP-generating acetyl CoA synthetase uses two ATP equivalents forthe conversion of each molecule of acetate into acetyl CoA(CoA+acetate+ATP→acetyl-CoA+PPi+AMP). Under anaerobic conditions, whenenergy is available only through substrate-level phosphorylation, theproduction of dodecanol via the AMP-forming acetyl CoA synthetase is notenergetically favorable. Therefore, a small amount of oxygen is madeavailable to the cell to fulfill its energetic requirements,simultaneously increasing the conversion of acetate into acetyl CoA.

The production of dodecanol can be improved by disruption ofethanol-specific alcohol dehydrogenases to prevent acetyl-CoA and NADHfrom being used for ethanol production. Additionally, the production ofLCA benefits from preventing NADH from being used in the respiratoryelectron-transport chain. Thus, disruptions in the internalmitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase, the glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenaseshuttle (consisting of cytosolic NADH-linked glycerol-3-phosphatedehydrogenase and a membrane-bound glycerol-3-phosphate:ubiquinoneoxidoreductase) (Bakker et al., FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 25:15-37 (2001))and the external NADH dehydrogenase are introduced in some embodiments.Further, cytosolic malate dehydrogenase that can potentially draw NADHaway from dodecanol production is also disrupted. A growth-coupledproduction envelope after imposing these disruptions is shown in darkgray in FIG. 9b and compared with the dodecanol productioncharacteristics under aerobic conditions.

In some embodiments, the non-naturally occurring eukaryotic organismincorporates an exogenous gene encoding an ADP-forming acetate CoAligase. In this embodiment, the AMP-forming acetyl CoA synthetase in thecytosol is replaced by the ADP-forming acetate CoA ligase(CoA+acetate+ATP→acetyl-CoA+Pi+ADP) (FIG. 10a ). Exogenous genes tointroduce acetate CoA ligase include, for example, acdA and acdB fromPyrococcus furiosus (Glasemacher et al., Eur. J. Biochem. 244:561-567(1997)) (Mai and Adams, J. Bacteriol. 178: 5897-5903 (1996)). Theintroduction of this enzyme that uses one equivalent of ATP forformation of each molecule of acetyl CoA (as opposed to 2 ATPequivalents) allows the production of dodecanol to be energeticallyneutral. In this embodiment, a small amount of oxygen or other electronacceptor respiration is used to generate energy to support growth. Suchsmall amounts of oxygen are referred to as microaerobic conditions, asdescribed further below. In some embodiments, the ethanol-specificalcohol dehydrogenases is disrupted to prevent ethanol formation. Inembodiments incorporating CoA ligase, one or more of the followingknockouts can be introduced for LCA production: cytosolic malatedehydrogenase, glycerol-3-phospate dehydrogenase shuttle, the externalNADH dehydrogenase, and the internal mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase.The growth-coupled production after imposition of these disruptions isshown in FIG. 10b in dark gray. The black curve shows the productionenvelope for the wild-type strain under aerobic conditions and the lightgray curve shows the envelope when the network is augmented withacetate-CoA ligase. Note the increase in the maximum theoretical yieldof dodecanol after introduction of this enzyme.

In some embodiments, the non-naturally occurring eukaryotic organismincorporates an exogenous gene encoding an acylating acetaldehydedehydrogenase. Improvement in the energetics of the dodecanol processcan be accomplished by using the acylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase(acetaldehyde+CoA+NAD→acetyl-CoA+NADH) for the conversion ofacetaldehyde into acetyl CoA (FIG. 11a ). The benefits of using thisenzyme are that (i) no energy is expended for production of acetyl CoA,and (ii) one molecule of NADH is formed for every molecule of acetyl CoAformed. Thus, the reducing equivalents needed for the production ofacetyl CoA can also be generated. The introduction of this enzyme allowsproduction of LCA under anaerobic conditions.

Acylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase has been reported in severalbacteria, including Acetobacterium woodii (Mai and Adams, J. Bacteriol.178:5897-5903 (1996)), Clostridium kluyveri (Seedorf et al., Proc. Natl.Acad. Sci. U. S. A 105:2128-2133 (2008); Smith and Kaplan, Arch.Biochem. Biophys. 203:663-675(1980)), Clostridium beijerinckii (Yan etal., Appl. Environ. Microbiol 56:2591-2599 (1990)), and in species ofPseudomonas such as strain CF600 (Lei et al., Biochemistry 47:6870-6882(2008); Manjasetty et al., Acta Crystallogr. D. Biol. Crystallogr.57:582-585 (2001)). The Genbank ids of genes are shown in Table 5 below.

TABLE 5 Ald YP_001394464.1 Clostridium kluyveri dmpF CAA43226.1Pseudomonas sp. CF600 bphG BAA03892.1 Pseudomonas sp mhpD NP_414884.1Escherichia coli K12 MG1655

In some embodiments each of the strains above can be supplemented withadditional disruptions. Alternatively, some other enzymes not known topossess significant activity under the growth conditions can becomeactive due to adaptive evolution or random mutagenesis and can also bedisrupted.

The anaerobic growth-coupled production of dodecanol (or any LCA) can beaccomplished by disrupting ethanol-specific alcohol dehydrogenaseactivity. The introduction of an acylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase,with its favorable energetics, prevents or reduces carbon flux throughthe native acetaldehyde dehydrogenase and the acetyl-CoA synthetase. Theproduction envelope is shown in FIG. 11b . The wild-type S. cerevisiae(black) network can form only small amounts of dodecanol as an byproductof growth under anaerobic conditions. When the network is augmented withacylating dehydrogenase, there is an increase in the theoretical maximumyield in the network, but no growth-coupling is observed (dotted lightgray curve). However, disruption of ethanol-specific alcoholdehydrogenase from the augmented network shows that dodecanol productionis coupled to growth at the maximum feasible biomass in the network(dark gray curve).

In some embodiments, the non-naturally occurring eukaryotic organismuses a cytosolic pyruvate dehydrogenase for dodecanol production.Cytosolic pyruvate dehydrogenase for generating the precursors for theMI-LCA pathway are shown in FIG. 12. In such embodiments, (i) pyruvateis directly converted into acetyl CoA in the cytosol without theexpenditure of energy, and (ii) more reducing equivalents are availableto the cell.

In some embodiments, the non-naturally occurring eukaryotic organism isengineered to retarget the native mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenaseto the cytosol. In other embodiments, a heterologous cytosolic enzyme isintroduced into the organism. The retargeting of an enzyme to adifferent compartment can be accomplished by changing the targetingsequence of the protein (van Loon and Young, EMBO J. 5:161-165 (1986)).Disruption of the native pyruvate decarboxylase enables a majority ofthe carbon flux to be introduced into the cytosol for processing bycytosolic pyruvate dehydrogenase. This also allows the production ofdodecanol under anaerobic conditions. The growth-coupled productionenvelope is similar to that depicted in FIG. 11b . Note that pyruvatedecarboxylase is disrupted instead of alcohol dehydrogenase to achievegrowth-coupling in the network.

In some embodiments, the non-naturally occurring eukaryotic organismuses a cytosolic pyruvate:NADP oxidoreductase. Pyruvate: NADPoxidoreductase allows for the production of acetyl CoA and reducingequivalents in the cytosol as shown in FIG. 13. The addition of thisenzyme allows for the production of acetyl CoA without expending energythat would otherwise have been required by acetyl CoA synthetase. Theenzyme has been purified from the mitochondrion of Euglena gracilis andis oxygen-sensitive (Inui et al., Journal of Biochemistry 96:931-934(1984); Inui et al., Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics 237:423-429(1985); Inui et al., Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics 274:434-442(1989); Inui et al., Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics 280:292-298(1990)). It is used for generating acetyl CoA from pyruvate,simultaneously producing NADPH. The corresponding gene is pno and itsGenbank id is: CAC37628.1. It can be targeted to the cytosol by removingthe mitochondrial targeting sequence. In some embodiments, atranshydrogenase is also added. This enzyme can be introduced as anexogenous gene from an organism such as E. coli to convert the generatedNADPH into NADH (Nissen et al., Yeast 18:19-32 (2001)).

With its low ATP requirements, the pathway is energetically favorableeven under anaerobic conditions. To prevent or reduce the utilization ofNADH and pyruvate for ethanol production, pyruvate decarboxylaseactivity can be disrupted. This leads to a growth-coupled production ofdodecanol similar to that shown in FIG. 11 b.

In some embodiments, a non-naturally occurring eukaryotic organism usesa pyruvate formate lyase. In such embodiments, a heterologous cytosolicpyruvate formate lyase (pfl) is used to generate both acetyl CoA andNADH as shown in FIG. 14. This enzyme is active typically underanaerobic conditions in organisms such as E. coli. The lack of energyrequirement for conversion of pyruvate into acetyl CoA makes theproduction of dodecanol feasible under anaerobic conditions.

The conversion of pyruvate into acetyl CoA is accompanied by theproduction of formate. This is metabolized by the native formatedehydrogenase, leading to additional generation of reducing equivalentsin stoichiometric quantities. In some embodiments that use this straindesign, one or more of the three pyruvate decarboxylases, PDC1, PDC5 andPDC6, can be disrupted. The Genbank ids of exemplary genes encodingpyruvate formate lyase are shown in Table 6 below.

TABLE 6 pflB NP_415423.1 Escherichia coli pfl YP_001588758. Lactococcuslactis pfl YP_001394497.1 Clostridium kluyveri

The disruption of pyruvate decarboxylase along with the introduction ofa heterologous pyruvate formate lyase in the network leads to agrowth-coupled production of dodecanol. The production curve is similarto what is shown in FIG. 11 b.

While the non-naturally occurring eukaryotic organisms described aboveproduce LCAs in the cytosol, it is also possible to produce LCAs in themitochondrion. Exemplary designs for the distribution of the carbon fluxtowards dodecanol production are detailed herein below. Organisms thatproduce LCAs in the mitochondrion include one or more disruptions ingenes that encode enzymes such as a cytosolic pyruvate decarboxylase, acytosolic ethanol-specific alcohol dehydrogenase, and amitochondrialethanol-specific alcohol dehydrogenase. Exemplary genese encoding theseenzymes include, for example, YLR044C, YLR134W, YGR087C, PDC3, YBR145W,YGL256W, YOL086C, YMR303, YMR083W, YPL088W, YAL061W, YMR318C, YCR105W,and YDL168W.

Other genes disruptions include those encoding an enzyme suchas acytosolic malate dehydrogenase, glycerol-3-phospate dehydrogenaseshuttle, catalyzed by, the external NADH dehydrogenase, and internalNADH dehydrogenase. Exemplary genes of the latter include, for example,YOL126C, YDL022W, YOL059W, YIL155C, YMR145C, YDL085W, and YML120C.

Organisms that produce LCAs in the mitochondrion can also include anexogenous nucleic acid encoding an enzyme such as a pyruvatedehydrogenase, a pyruvate: NADP oxidoreductase, a pyruvate formatelyase, an acylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, an acetate CoA ligase,and an AMP-forming acetyl CoA synthetase or their corresponding generegulatory regions as described above. Additionally, such organismsbenefit from enhanced NADH transporting shuttle systems for transport ofNADH from the cytosol into the mitochondrion. Other exogenous nucleicacids encoding an enzyme that can be inserted in such organisms includea transhydrogenase, formate dehydrogenase, a pyruvate decarboxylase, anda pyruvate oxidase, all in the mitochondrion, or their correspondinggene regulatory regions.

In one embodiment a mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase is used in thenon-naturally occurring eukaryotic organism. This can be the nativepyruvate dehydrogenase which produces both acetyl CoA and NADH as shownin FIG. 15a . Since, there is no energy requirement for the conversionof pyruvate to acetyl CoA via this route; the production of dodecanol,for example, is energetically favorable even under anaerobic conditions.

The mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase is known to be active in bothaerobic and anaerobic conditions in S. cerevisiae (Pronk et al., Yeast12:1607-1633 (1996)). In some embodiments the enzyme is overexpressed inits native or a heterologous form. The native enzyme can beoverexpressed by using a stronger promoter. Additionally, mutations canbe introduced aimed at increasing its activity under anaerobicconditions (Kim et al., J. Bacteriol. 190:3851-3858 (2008)). Reducingequivalents generated in the cytosol are made available in themitochondrion for dodecanol production by using the redox shuttlespresent in S. cerevisiae. Note that these shuttles transport NADH intothe mitochondrion for energy generation under respiratory conditions(Overkamp et al., J. Bacteriol. 182:2823-2830 (2000)). Forgrowth-coupled production, pyruvate decarboxylase activity is disruptedto allow for pyruvate flux to be directed towards pyruvate dehydrogenaseand to inhibit ethanol formation. The production curve for the mutantnetwork is shown in FIG. 15 b.

In some embodiments, a non-naturally occurring eukaryotic organism usesa heterologous pyruvate:NADP-oxidoreductase. The production of dodecanolin the mitochondrion can be achieved by introduction of thepyruvate:NADP oxidoreductase in the mitochondrion as shown in FIG. 16.This enzyme is purified from E. gracilis. Since the enzyme is naturallypresent in mitochondrion and is active under anaerobic conditions, it ispossible to get high activity of the enzyme under anaerobic conditions.The introduction of this enzyme provides the precursor acetyl CoA fordodecanol production and also reducing equivalents. The NADPH generatedby the enzyme is converted into NADH by a transhydrogenase, which can beintroduced into the mitochondrion. For additional reducing equivalents,the redox shuttles need to transport NADH from the cytosol to themitochondrion. The growth-coupled production of LCA using this enzymecan be obtained by disruption of pyruvate decarboxylase. The productioncurve of the mutant strain is very similar to the one shown in FIG. 15b.

In some embodiments, a non-naturally occurring eukaryotic organism usesa heterologous pyruvate formate lyase. The production of dodecanol usinga pyruvate formate lyase in mitochondrion is shown in FIG. 17. Thesegenes have been outlined herein above. In such embodiments, the nativeformate dehydrogenase is retargeted to the mitochondrion to allow forfurther metabolizing formate and generating more reducing equivalents.This strain can be adopted to carry sufficient flux to sustain highyield and productivity of LCA production in the mitochondrion in theabsence of oxygen.

Anaerobic growth conditions are feasible for the production of dodecanolusing this strain design. Redox shuttles can be overexpressed totransport NADH generated in the cytosol to the mitochondrion. Productionin this scenario is possible by disrupting the cytosolic pyruvatedecarboxylase activity. The production characteristics of the mutantstrain are similar to that shown in FIG. 15 b.

In some embodiments, a non-naturally occurring eukaryotic organism usesa heterologous acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (acylating). In suchembodiments, an acylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase is introduced intothe mitochondrion to provide both acetyl-CoA and NADH for LCA productionas shown in FIG. 18. A pyruvate decarboxylase isozyme is retargeted tothe mitochondrion to convert pyruvate into acetaldehyde in someembodiments. The expression of these two activities in the mitochondrionis equivalent to the activity of pyruvate dehydrogenase. Thegrowth-coupled production curve is the same as that shown in FIG. 15b .The growth-coupled production strain has the native mitochondrialacetaldehyde dehydrogenase (Pronk et al., Yeast 12:1607-1633 (1996)) andthe cytosolic pyruvate decarboxylase disrupted in some embodiments. Inother embodiments, the mitochondrial ethanol-specific alcoholdehydrogenase is also disrupted to prevent the conversion ofacetaldehyde into ethanol.

In some embodiments, a non-naturally occurring eukaryotic organism usesa mitochondrial acetyl CoA synthetase (AMP-forming). As discussed above,the expression of this enzyme requires oxygen for favorable energetics.ACS1, an isozyme of acetyl CoA synthetase is expressed in S. cerevisiaein the mitochondrion under aerobic conditions but is repressed byglucose. This enzyme can be mutated to eliminate the repression or aheterologous enzyme that is expressed under the conditions of interestcan be introduced. Additionally, pyruvate decarboxylase also can beexpressed in the mitochondrion to form acetate. S. cerevisiae, forexample, already possesses a mitochondrial acetaldehyde dehydrogenase(Pronk et al., Yeast 12:1607-1633 (1996)). Alternatively, enzymes suchas pyruvate oxidase can be heterologously expressed to convert pyruvateinto acetate. One such enzyme candidate is pyruvate oxidase from E. coli(Genbank id: NP_451392.1). This enzyme is naturally expressed in thepresence of oxygen.

The production of LCA using this strain design benefits from one or moreof the following disrupted enzymes: cytosolic malate dehydrogenase, theglycerol-3-phospate dehydrogenase shuttle, the external NADHdehydrogenase, and the internal mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase. Theglycerol-3-phosphate shuttle is comprised of the cytosolicglycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and the membrane-boundglycerol-3-phosphate:ubiquionone oxidoreductase, with the latter alsofunctioning as the mitochondrial glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Insome embodiments, the mitochondrial ethanol-specific alcoholdehydrogenase is also disrupted to prevent or reduce the conversion ofacetaldehyde into ethanol. The production curve for the wild type strainwith a mitochondrial pyruvate decarboxylase added to the network isshown in black in FIG. 19b . This curve is shown for aerobic conditions.The production characteristics when the aforementioned disruptions areimposed on the network are shown in light gray. The downregulation ofthe oxidative part of the pentose phosphate pathway, especially thecommitting step, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, further improves theLCA production characteristics of the network.

In some embodiments, a non-naturally occurring eukaryotic organism usesa mitochondrial acetate CoA ligase (ADP-forming). Mitochondrial LCAproduction can also be accomplished using an acetate-CoA ligase toconvert acetate into acetyl-CoA as shown in FIG. 20. As described above,the use of this enzyme is energetically favorable and LCA production isenergetically neutral unless oxygen is supplied. The mitochondrialexpression of pyruvate decarboxylase is used in such embodiments. LCAproduction is obtained by imposing disruptions in cytosolic malatedehydrogenase, the glycerol-3-phospate dehydrogenase shuttle, theexternal NADH dehydrogenase, and the internal NADH dehydrogenase. Thedown-regulation of the oxidative part of the pentose phosphate pathwayfurther improves the growth-coupled production characteristics to yielda production curve similar to the one shown in FIG. 19b . In someembodiments, the mitochondrial ethanol-specific alcohol dehydrogenase isalso disrupted to prevent or reduce the conversion of acetaldehyde intoethanol.

The design strategies described herein are useful not only for enhancinggrowth-coupled production, but they are also well-suited for enhancingnon-growth coupled production because they link the production of longchain alcohols to energy generation and/or redox balance. Exemplarynon-growth coupled production methods include implementing an aerobicgrowth phase followed by an anaerobic production phase. For example,Vemuri et al. J. Ind. Microbiol. Biotechnol. (6):325-332, (2002)describe a dual-phase process for the production of succinate in E.Coli. Okino et al. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. September 6. (2008)[Currently available in online edition]. describe a similar non-growthcouple production process in a strain of Corynebacterium glutamicumstrain.

Another such method involves withholding an essential nutrient from apropogated cell culture, thereby limiting growth, but not precludingproduction as described in Durner et al. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.(8):3408-3414(2000). Yet another strategy aimed at decoupling growthfrom production involves replacing the growth substrate with anothercompound that is more slowly metabolizable as described in Altamirano etal. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 76:351-360 (2001). Growth decoupled-productformation can also be brought about by specific genetic modifications asdescribed in Blombach et al. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 79:471-9(2008).

Some microbial organisms capable of LCA production are exemplifiedherein with reference to an Saccharomyces cerevisaie genetic background.However, with the complete genome sequence available now for more than550 species (with more than half of these available on public databasessuch as the NCBI), including 395 microorganism genomes and a variety ofyeast, fungi, plant, and mammalian genomes, the identification of analternate species homolog for one or more genes, including for example,orthologs, paralogs and nonorthologous gene displacements, and theinterchange of genetic alterations between eukaryotic organisms isroutine and well known in the art. Accordingly, the metabolicalterations enabling production of LCA described herein with referenceto a particular organism such as Saccharomyces cerevisaie can be readilyapplied to other microorganisms. Given the teachings and guidanceprovided herein, those skilled in the art will know that a metabolicalteration exemplified in one organism can be applied equally to otherorganisms.

The methods of the invention are applicable to various eukaroticorganisms such as yeast and fungus. The yeast can include S. cerevisiaeand Rhizopus arrhizus, for example. Exemplary eukaryotic species includethose selected from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe,Kluyveromyces lactis, Kluyveromyces marxianus, Aspergillus terreus,Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus arrhizus, Rhizopus oryzae, Candida albicans,Candida boidinii and Pichia pastoris. Additionally, select cells fromlarger eukaryotic organisms are also applicable to methods of thepresent invention.

Genes can be inserted into S. cerevisiae, using several methods; some ofthese are plasmid-based whereas others allow for the incorporation ofthe gene in the chromosome. The latter approach employs an integrativepromoter based expression vector, for example, the pGAPZ or the pGAPZavector based on the GAP promoter. The expression vector constitutes theGAP promoter, the HIS4 wild-type allele for integration and the 3′ AOXtranscription termination region of P. pastoris in addition to a KanMXcassette, flanked by loxP sites enabling removal and recycling of theresistance marker. The vectors are commercially available fromInvitrogen. The details of which are elaborated in the Example below.

The engineered strains are characterized by measuring the growth rate,the substrate uptake rate, and the product/byproduct secretion rate.Cultures are grown overnight and used as inoculum for a fresh batchculture for which measurements are taken during exponential growth. Thegrowth rate is determined by measuring optical density using aspectrophotometer (A600). Concentrations of glucose, alcohols, and otherorganic acid byproducts in the culture supernatant will be determined byanalytical methods including HPLC using an HPX-87H column (BioRad), orGC-MS, and used to calculate uptake and secretion rates. All experimentsare performed with triplicate cultures.

The invention also provides a method for producing long chain alcoholsby culturing the non-naturally occurring eukaryotic organism describedherein above. The one or more gene disruptions occur in genes encodingan enzyme to coupling long chain alcohol production to growth of theorganism when the gene disruption reduces an activity of the enzyme. Theone or more gene disruptions confers stable growth-coupled production oflong chain alcohols onto the organism. In alternate embodiments the genedisruptions can enhance LCA production in a non-growth dependent manner.

Each of the strains presented herein may be supplemented with additionaldisruptions if it is determined that the predicted strain designs do notsufficiently couple the formation of LCAs with biomass formation.However, the list of gene disruption sets provided here serves as anexcellent starting point for the construction of high-yieldinggrowth-coupled LCA production strains.

Each of the proposed strains can be supplemented with additionaldisruptions if it is determined that the predicted strain designs do notsufficiently couple the formation of the product with biomass formation.Alternatively, some other enzymes not known to possess significantactivity under the growth conditions can become active due to adaptiveevolution or random mutagenesis and can also be disrupted. However, thelist of gene disruption sets provided here serves as a starting pointfor construction of high-yielding growth-coupled LCA production strains.

The non-naturally occurring microbial organisms of the invention can beemployed in the growth-coupled production of LCA. Essentially anyquantity, including commercial quantities, can be synthesized using thegrowth-coupled LCA producers of the invention. Because the organisms ofthe invention obligatorily couple LCA to continuous growth ornear-continuous growth processes are particularly useful forbiosynthetic production of LCA. Such continuous and/or near continuousgrowth processes are described above and exemplified below in theExample I. Continuous and/or near-continuous microorganism growthprocesses also are well known in the art. Briefly, continuous and/ornear-continuous growth processes involve maintaining the microorganismin an exponential growth or logarithmic phase. Procedures include usingapparatuses such as the Evolugator™ evolution machine (Evolugate LLC,Gainesville, Fla.), fermentors and the like. Additionally, shake flaskfermentation and grown under microaerobic conditions also can beemployed. Given the teachings and guidance provided herein those skilledin the art will understand that the growth-coupled LCA producingmicroorganisms can be employed in a variety of different settings undera variety of different conditions using a variety of different processesand/or apparatuses well known in the art.

Generally, the continuous and/or near-continuous production of LCA willinclude culturing a non-naturally occurring growth-coupled LCA producingorganism of the invention in sufficient nutrients and medium to sustainand/or nearly sustain growth in an exponential phase. Continuous cultureunder such conditions can be grown, for example, for a day, 2, 3, 4, 5,6 or 7 days or more. Additionally, continuous cultures can include timedurations of 1 week, 2, 3, 4 or 5 or more weeks and up to severalmonths. It is to be understood that the continuous and/ornear-continuous culture conditions also can include all time intervalsin between these exemplary periods. In particular embodiments, culturingis conducted in a substantially anaerobic culture medium.

LCA can be harvested or isolated at any time point during the continuousand/or near-continuous culture period exemplified above. As exemplifiedbelow, the longer the microorganisms are maintained in a continuousand/or near-continuous growth phase, the proportionally greater amountof LCA can be produced.

Therefore, the invention provides a method for producing LCA thatincludes culturing a non-naturally occurring microbial organism thatincludes one or more gene disruptions. The disruptions can occur ingenes encoding an enzyme to coupling LCA production to growth of themicroorganism when the gene disruption reduces an activity of theenzyme, such that the disruptions confer stable growth-coupledproduction of LCA onto the non-naturally microbial organism.

In some embodiments, the gene disruption can include a complete genedeletion. In some embodiments other means to disrupt a gene include, forexample, frameshifting by omission or addition of oligonucleotides or bymutations that render the gene inoperable. One skilled in the art willrecognize the advantages of gene deletions, however, because of thestability it may confer to the non-naturally occurring organism fromreverting to its wild-type. In particular, the gene disruptions areselected from the gene set that includes genes detailed herein above.

The metabolic engineering strategies listed in this disclosure assumethat the organism can produce long chain alcohols via the malonyl-CoAindependent pathway. The construction of a recombinant host organismcapable of producing long chain alcohols via the malonyl-CoA independentpathway involves engineering a non-naturally occurring microbialorganism having a malonyl-CoA-independent fatty acid synthesis (FAS)pathway and an acyl-reduction pathway having at least one exogenousnucleic acid encoding a malonyl-CoA-independent FAS pathway enzymeexpressed in sufficient amounts to produce a primary alcohol. Such amalonyl-CoA-independent FAS pathway includes a ketoacyl-CoAacyltransferase or ketoacyl-CoA thiolase, 3-hydroxyacyl-CoAdehydrogenase, enoyl-CoA hydratase and enoyl-CoA reductase. Theacyl-reduction pathway includes an acyl-CoA reductase and an alcoholdehydrogenase.

In order to validate the computational predictions presented herein, thestrains must be constructed, evolved, and tested. Escherichia coli K-12MG1655 housing the MI-LCA pathway will serve as the strain into whichthe disruptions will be introduced. The disruptions will be constructedby incorporating in-frame deletions using homologous recombination viathe X Red recombinase system of Datsenko and Wanner (Datsenko, K. A. andB. L. Wanner, One-step inactivation of chromosomal genes in Escherichiacoli K-12 using PCR products. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2000. 97(12): p.6640-5.). The approach involves replacing a chromosomal sequence (i.e.,the gene targeted for removal) with a selectable antibiotic resistancegene, which itself is later removed. Knockouts are integrated one by oneinto the recipient strain. No antibiotic resistance markers remain aftereach deletion allowing accumulation of multiple mutations in each targetstrain. The deletion technology completely removes the gene targeted forremoval so as to substantially reduce the possibility of the constructedmutants reverting back to the wild-type.

As intermediate strains are being constructed, strain performance willbe quantified by performing shake flask fermentations. Anaerobicconditions will be obtained by sealing the flasks with a rubber septumand then sparging the medium with nitrogen. For strains where growth isnot observed under strict anaerobic conditions, microaerobic conditionscan be applied by covering the flask with foil and poking a small holefor limited aeration. All experiments are performed using M9 minimalmedium supplemented with glucose unless otherwise stated. Pre-culturesare grown overnight and used as inoculum for a fresh batch culture forwhich measurements are taken during exponential growth. The growth rateis determined by measuring optical density using a spectrophotometer(600 nm), and the glucose uptake rate by monitoring carbon sourcedepletion over time. LCAs, ethanol, and organic acids are analyzed byGC-MS or HPLC using routine procedures. Triplicate cultures are grownfor each strain.

The performance of select strains is tested in anaerobic, pH-controlledbatch fermentations. This enables reliable quantification of the growth,glucose uptake, and formation rates of all products, as well as ensuringthat the accumulation of acidic fermentation products will not limitcell growth. In addition, it allows accurate determination of LCAvolumetric productivity and yield, two important parameters inbenchmarking strain performance. Fermentations are carried out in 1-Lbioreactors with 600 mL working volume, equipped with temperature and pHcontrol. The reactor is continuously sparged with N₂ at approximately0.5 L/min to ensure that DO levels remain below detection levels. Theculture medium is the same as described above, except that the glucoseconcentration is increased in accordance with the higher cell densityachievable in a fermentation vessel.

Chemostat experiments will be conducted to obtain a direct measure ofhow the switch in fermentation mode from batch to continuous affects LCAyield and volumetric productivity. The bioreactors described above usingbatch mode are operated in chemostat mode through continuous supply ofmedium and removal of spent culture. The inlet flow rate is set tomaintain a constant dilution rate of 80% of the maximum growth rateobserved for each strain in batch, and the outlet flow is controlled tomaintain level. Glucose is the limiting nutrient in the medium, and setto achieve the desired optical density in the vessel.

The recombinant strains are initially expected to exhibit suboptimalgrowth rates until their metabolic networks have adjusted to theirmissing functionalities. To enable this adjustment, the strains areadaptively evolved. By subjecting the strains to adaptive evolution,cellular growth rate becomes the primary selection pressure and themutant cells are compelled to reallocate their metabolic fluxes in orderto enhance their rates of growth. This reprogramming of metabolism hasbeen recently demonstrated for several E. coli mutants that had beenadaptively evolved on various substrates to reach the growth ratespredicted a priori by an in silico model (Fong, S. S. and B. O. Palsson,Metabolic gene-deletion strains of Escherichia coli evolve tocomputationally predicted growth phenotypes. Nat Genet, 2004. 36(10): p.1056-8.). The OptKnock-generated strains are adaptively evolved intriplicate (running in parallel) due to differences in the evolutionarypatterns witnessed previously in E. coli (Fong, S. S. and B. O. Palsson,Metabolic gene-deletion strains of Escherichia coli evolve tocomputationally predicted growth phenotypes. Nat Genet, 2004. 36(10): p.1056-8; Fong, S. S., J. Y. Marciniak, and B. O. Palsson, Description andinterpretation of adaptive evolution of Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 byusing a genome-scale in silico metabolic model. J Bacteriol, 2003.185(21): p. 6400-8; Ibarra, R. U., J. S. Edwards, and B. O. Palsson,Escherichia coli K-12 undergoes adaptive evolution to achieve in silicopredicted optimal growth. Nature, 2002. 420(6912): p. 186-189.) thatcould potentially result in one strain having superior productionqualities over the others. Evolutions are run for a period of 2-6 weeks,depending upon the rate of growth improvement attained. In general,evolutions are stopped once a stable phenotype is obtained. Thegrowth-coupled biochemical production concept behind the OptKnockapproach results in the generation of genetically stable overproducers.

The engineered strains can be characterized by measuring the growthrate, the substrate uptake rate, and the product/byproduct secretionrate. Cultures are grown overnight and used as inoculum for a freshbatch culture for which measurements are taken during exponentialgrowth. The growth rate can be determined by measuring optical densityusing a spectrophotometer (A600). Concentrations of glucose and otherorganic acid byproducts in the culture supernatant are determined byHPLC using an HPX-87H column (BioRad), and used to calculate uptake andsecretion rates. All experiments are performed with triplicate cultures.

Following the adaptive evolution process, the new strains arecharacterized again by measuring the growth rate, the substrate uptakerate, and the product/byproduct secretion rate. These results will becompared to the OptKnock predictions by plotting actual growth andproduction yields along side the production envelopes in the abovefigures. The most successful OptKnock design/evolution combinations arechosen to pursue further, and are characterized in lab-scale batch andcontinuous fermentations. The growth-coupled biochemical productionconcept behind the OptKnock approach should also result in thegeneration of genetically stable overproducers. Thus, the cultures aremaintained in continuous mode for one month to evaluate long-termstability. Periodic samples are taken to ensure that yield andproductivity are maintained throughout the experiment.

As previously mentioned, one computational method for identifying anddesigning metabolic alterations favoring biosynthesis of a desiredproduct is the OptKnock computational framework (Burgard et al.,Biotechnol. Bioeng. 84:647-657 (2003)). The framework examines thecomplete metabolic and/or biochemical network of a microorganism inorder to suggest genetic manipulations that force the desiredbiochemical to become a byproduct of cell growth. By couplingbiochemical production with cell growth through strategically placedgene deletions or other functional gene disruption, the growth selectionpressures imposed on the engineered strains after long periods of timein a bioreactor lead to improvements in performance as a result of thecompulsory growth-coupled biochemical production. Lastly, when genedeletions are constructed there is a negligible possibility of thedesigned strains reverting to their wild-type states because the genesselected by OptKnock are to be completely removed from the genome.Therefore, this computational methodology can be used to either identifyalternative pathways that lead to biosynthesis of a desired product orused in connection with the non-naturally occurring microbial organismsfor further optimization of biosynthesis of a desired product.

Briefly, OptKnock is a term used herein to refer to a computationalmethod and system for modeling cellular metabolism. The OptKnock programrelates to a framework of models and methods that incorporate particularconstraints into flux balance analysis (FBA) models. These constraintsinclude, for example, qualitative kinetic information, qualitativeregulatory information, and/or DNA microarray experimental data.OptKnock also computes solutions to various metabolic problems by, forexample, tightening the flux boundaries derived through flux balancemodels and subsequently probing the performance limits of metabolicnetworks in the presence of gene additions or disruptions. OptKnockcomputational framework allows the construction of model formulationsthat enable an effective query of the performance limits of metabolicnetworks and provides methods for solving the resulting mixed-integerlinear programming problems. The metabolic modeling and simulationmethods referred to herein as OptKnock are described in, for example,U.S. publication 2002/0168654, filed Jan. 10, 2002, in InternationalPatent No. PCT/US02/00660, filed Jan. 10, 2002, and U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/891,602, filed Aug. 10, 2007.

Another computational method for identifying and designing metabolicalterations favoring biosynthetic production of a product is a metabolicmodeling and simulation system termed SimPheny®. This computationalmethod and system is described in, for example, U.S. publication2003/0233218, filed Jun. 14, 2002, and in International PatentApplication No. PCT/US03/18838, filed Jun. 13, 2003. SimPheny® is acomputational system that can be used to produce a network model insilico and to simulate the flux of mass, energy or charge through thechemical reactions of a biological system to define a solution spacethat contains any and all possible functionalities of the chemicalreactions in the system, thereby determining a range of allowedactivities for the biological system. This approach is referred to asconstraints-based modeling because the solution space is defined byconstraints such as the known stoichiometry of the included reactions aswell as reaction thermodynamic and capacity constraints associated withmaximum fluxes through reactions. The space defined by these constraintscan be interrogated to determine the phenotypic capabilities andbehavior of the biological system or of its biochemical components.

These computational approaches are consistent with biological realitiesbecause biological systems are flexible and can reach the same result inmany different ways. Biological systems are designed throughevolutionary mechanisms that have been restricted by fundamentalconstraints that all living systems must face. Therefore,constraints-based modeling strategy embraces these general realities.Further, the ability to continuously impose further restrictions on anetwork model via the tightening of constraints results in a reductionin the size of the solution space, thereby enhancing the precision withwhich physiological performance or phenotype can be predicted.

Given the teachings and guidance provided herein, those skilled in theart will be able to apply various computational frameworks for metabolicmodeling and simulation to design and implement biosynthesis of adesired compound in host microbial organisms. Such metabolic modelingand simulation methods include, for example, the computational systemsexemplified above as SimPheny® and OptKnock. For illustration of theinvention, some methods are described herein with reference to theOptKnock computation framework for modeling and simulation. Thoseskilled in the art will know how to apply the identification, design andimplementation of the metabolic alterations using OptKnock to any ofsuch other metabolic modeling and simulation computational frameworksand methods well known in the art.

The methods described above will provide one set of metabolic reactionsto disrupt. Elimination of each reaction within the set or metabolicmodification can result in a desired product as a product during thegrowth phase of the organism. Because the reactions are known, asolution to the bilevel OptKnock problem also will provide theassociated gene or genes encoding one or more enzymes that catalyze eachreaction within the set of reactions. Identification of a set ofreactions and their corresponding genes encoding the enzymesparticipating in each reaction is generally an automated process,accomplished through correlation of the reactions with a reactiondatabase having a relationship between enzymes and encoding genes.

Once identified, the set of reactions that are to be disrupted in orderto achieve production of a desired product are implemented in the targetcell or organism by functional disruption of at least one gene encodingeach metabolic reaction within the set. One particularly useful means toachieve functional disruption of the reaction set is by deletion of eachencoding gene. However, in some instances, it can be beneficial todisrupt the reaction by other genetic aberrations including, forexample, mutation, deletion of regulatory regions such as promoters orcis binding sites for regulatory factors, or by truncation of the codingsequence at any of a number of locations. These latter aberrations,resulting in less than total deletion of the gene set can be useful, forexample, when rapid assessments of the coupling of a product are desiredor when genetic reversion is less likely to occur.

To identify additional productive solutions to the above describedbilevel OptKnock problem which lead to further sets of reactions todisrupt or metabolic modifications that can result in the biosynthesis,including growth-coupled biosynthesis of a desired product, anoptimization method, termed integer cuts, can be implemented. Thismethod proceeds by iteratively solving the OptKnock problem exemplifiedabove with the incorporation of an additional constraint referred to asan integer cut at each iteration. Integer cut constraints effectivelyprevent the solution procedure from choosing the exact same set ofreactions identified in any previous iteration that obligatorily couplesproduct biosynthesis to growth. For example, if a previously identifiedgrowth-coupled metabolic modification specifies reactions 1, 2, and 3for disruption, then the following constraint prevents the samereactions from being simultaneously considered in subsequent solutions.The integer cut method is well known in the art and can be founddescribed in, for example, Burgard et al., Biotechnol. Prog. 17:791-797(2001). As with all methods described herein with reference to their usein combination with the OptKnock computational framework for metabolicmodeling and simulation, the integer cut method of reducing redundancyin iterative computational analysis also can be applied with othercomputational frameworks well known in the art including, for example,SimPheny®.

The methods exemplified herein allow the construction of cells andorganisms that biosynthetically produce a desired product, including thecoupling of production of a target biochemical product to growth of thecell or organism engineered to harbor the identified geneticalterations. Therefore, the computational methods described herein allowthe identification and implementation of metabolic modifications thatare identified by an in silico method selected from OptKnock orSimPheny®. The set of metabolic modifications can include, for example,addition of one or more biosynthetic pathway enzymes and/or functionaldisruption of one or more metabolic reactions including, for example,disruption by gene deletion.

As discussed above, the OptKnock methodology was developed on thepremise that mutant microbial networks can be evolved towards theircomputationally predicted maximum-growth phenotypes when subjected tolong periods of growth selection. In other words, the approach leveragesan organism's ability to self-optimize under selective pressures. TheOptKnock framework allows for the exhaustive enumeration of genedisruption combinations that force a coupling between biochemicalproduction and cell growth based on network stoichiometry. Theidentification of optimal gene/reaction disruptions requires thesolution of a bilevel optimization problem that chooses the set ofactive reactions such that an optimal growth solution for the resultingnetwork overproduces the biochemical of interest (Burgard et al.,Biotechnol. Bioeng. 84:647-657 (2003)).

An in silico stoichiometric model of Escherichia coli metabolism can beemployed to identify essential genes for metabolic pathways asexemplified previously and described in, for example, U.S. patentpublications US 2002/0012939, US 2003/0224363, US 2004/0029149, US2004/0072723, US 2003/0059792, US 2002/0168654 and US 2004/0009466, andin U.S. Pat. No. 7,127,379. As disclosed herein, the OptKnockmathematical framework can be applied to pinpoint gene disruptionsleading to the growth-coupled production of a desired product. Further,the solution of the bilevel OptKnock problem provides only one set ofdisruptions. To enumerate all meaningful solutions, that is, all sets ofdisruptions leading to growth-coupled production formation, anoptimization technique, termed integer cuts, can be implemented. Thisentails iteratively solving the OptKnock problem with the incorporationof an additional constraint referred to as an integer cut at eachiteration, as discussed above.

Adaptive evolution is a powerful experimental technique that can be usedto increase growth rates of mutant or engineered microbial strains, orof wild-type strains growing under unnatural environmental conditions.It is especially useful for strains designed via the OptKnock formalism,which results in growth-coupled product formation. Therefore, evolutiontoward optimal growing strains will indirectly optimize production aswell. Unique strains of E. coli K-12 MG1655 were created through geneknockouts and adaptive evolution. (Fong, S. S. and B. O. Palsson, Nat.Genet. 36:1056-1058 (2004).) In this work, all adaptive evolutionarycultures were maintained in prolonged exponential growth by serialpassage of batch cultures into fresh medium before the stationary phasewas reached, thus rendering growth rate as the primary selectionpressure. The genes that were selected for this knockout study wereackA, frdA, pckA, ppc, tpiA, and zwf. Knockout strains were constructedand evolved on minimal medium supplemented with different carbonsubstrates (four for each knockout strain). Evolution cultures werecarried out in duplicate or triplicate, giving a total of 50 evolutionknockout strains. The evolution cultures were maintained in exponentialgrowth until a stable growth rate was reached. The computationalpredictions were accurate (i.e., within 10%) at predicting thepost-evolution growth rate of the knockout strains in 38 out of the 50cases examined. Furthermore, a combination of OptKnock design withadaptive evolution has led to improved lactic acid production strains.(Fong, S. S., A. P. Burgard, C. D. Herring, E. M. Knight, F. R.Blattner, C. D. Maranas, and B. O. Palsson, Biotechnol Bioeng 91:643-648(2005).) The guidance of these teachings relevant to E. coli can beapplied to other organisms.

There are a number of developed technologies for carrying out adaptiveevolution. Exemplary methods are provided herein below. In someembodiments, optimization of a non-naturally occurring organism of thepresent invention includes subject the use of any of the these adaptiveevolution techniques.

Serial culture involves repetitive transfer of a small volume of grownculture to a much larger vessel containing fresh growth medium. When thecultured organisms have grown to saturation in the new vessel, theprocess is repeated. This method has been used to achieve the longestdemonstrations of sustained culture in the literature, (Lenski, R. E.and M. Travisano, Proc Natl Acad Sci US.A. 91:6808-6814 (1994).) inexperiments which clearly demonstrated consistent improvement inreproductive rate over period of years. In the experiments performed inthe Palsson lab described above, transfer is usually performed duringexponential phase, so each day the transfer volume is preciselycalculated to maintain exponential growth through the next 24 hourperiod. This process is usually done manually, with considerable laborinvestment, and is subject to contamination through exposure to theoutside environment. Furthermore, since such small volumes aretransferred each time, the evolution is inefficient and many beneficialmutations are lost. On the positive side, serial dilution is inexpensiveand easy to parallelize.

In continuous culture the growth of cells in a chemostat represents anextreme case of dilution in which a very high fraction of the cellpopulation remains. As a culture grows and becomes saturated, a smallproportion of the grown culture is replaced with fresh media, allowingthe culture to continually grow at close to its maximum population size.Chemostats have been used to demonstrate short periods of rapidimprovement in reproductive rate. (Dykhuizen, D. E., Methods Enzymol.613-631 (1993).) The potential power of these devices was recognized,but traditional chemostats were unable to sustain long periods ofselection for increased reproduction rate, due to the unintendedselection of dilution-resistant (static) variants. These variants areable to resist dilution by adhering to the surface of the chemostat, andby doing so, outcompete less sticky individuals including those thathave higher reproductive rates, thus obviating the intended purpose ofthe device. (Chao, L. and G. Ramsdell J. Gen. Microbiol 20:132-138(1985).) One possible way to overcome this drawback is theimplementation of a device with two growth chambers, which periodicallyundergo transient phases of sterilization, as described in the patent bythe Pasteur Institute (Marliere and Mutzel, U.S. Pat. No. 6,686,194,filed 1999).

Evolugator™ is a continuous culture device developed by Evolugate, LLC(Gainesville, Fla.) exhibits significant time and effort savings overtraditional evolution techniques. (de Crecy, E., Metzgar, D., Allen, C.,Penicaud, M., Lyons, B., Hansen, C. J., de Crecy-Lagard, V. Appl.Microbiol. Biotechnol. 77:489-496 (2007).) The cells are maintained inprolonged exponential growth by the serial passage of batch culturesinto fresh medium before the stationary phase is attained. By automatingoptical density measurement and liquid handling, the Evolugator canperform serial transfer at high rates using large culture volumes, thusapproaching the efficiency of a chemostat in evolution of cell fitness.For example, a mutant of Acinetobacter sp ADP1 deficient in a componentof the translation apparatus, and having severely hampered growth, wasevolved in 200 generations to 80% of the wild-type growth rate. However,in contrast to the chemostat which maintains cells in a single vessel,the machine operates by moving from one “reactor” to the next insubdivided regions of a spool of tubing, thus eliminating any selectionfor wall-growth. The transfer volume is adjustable, and normally set toabout 50%.

It is understood that modifications which do not substantially affectthe activity of the various embodiments of this invention are alsoincluded within the definition of the invention provided herein.Accordingly, the following examples are intended to illustrate but notlimit the present invention.

Example I Primary Alcohol Biosynthesis

This Example describes the generation of a microbial organism capable ofproducing primary alcohols using a malonyl-CoA independent FAS metabolicpathway and acyl-reduction metabolic pathways.

Escherichia coli is used as a target organism to engineer amalonyl-CoA-independent FAS and acyl-reduction pathway as shown inFIG. 1. E. coli provides a good host for generating a non-naturallyoccurring microorganism capable of producing primary alcohol, such asoctanol. E. coli is amenable to genetic manipulation and is known to becapable of producing various products, like ethanol, effectively underanaerobic conditions.

To generate an E. coli strain engineered to produce primary alcohol,nucleic acids encoding the enzymes utilized in themalonyl-CoA-independent FAS and acyl-reduction pathway as describedpreviously, are expressed in E. coli using well known molecular biologytechniques (see, for example, Sambrook, supra, 2001; Ausubel supra,1999; Roberts et al., supra, 1989). In particular, the fadI/fadJ genes(NP_416844.1 and NP_416843.1), encoding the multienzyme complex withketoacyl-CoA thiolase, 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase, and enoyl-CoAhydratase activities under anaerobic conditions, and the TDE0597(NP_971211.1), encoding enoyl-CoA reductase, are cloned into the pZE13vector (Expressys, Ruelzheim, Germany) under the PA1/lacO promoter. Theacr1 gene (YP_047869.1), encoding acyl-CoA reductase, and the alrA gene(BAB12273.1), encoding alcohol dehydrogenase, are cloned into the pZA33vector (Expressys, Ruelzheim, Germany) under the PA1/lacO promoter. Thetwo sets of plasmids are transformed into E. coli strain MG1655 toexpress the proteins and enzymes required for themalonyl-CoA-independent FAS and acyl-reduction pathway.

The resulting genetically engineered organism is cultured in glucosecontaining medium following procedures well known in the art (see, forexample, Sambrook et al., supra, 2001). The expression ofmalonyl-CoA-independent FAS and acyl-reduction pathway genes iscorroborated using methods well known in the art for determiningpolypeptide expression or enzymatic activity, including for example,Northern blots, PCR amplification of mRNA, immunoblotting. Enzymaticactivities of the expressed enzymes are confirmed using assays specificfor the individually activities (see, for example, Tucci, supra, 2007;Hoffmeister et al., 2005; Inui et al., supra, 1984; Winkler, 2003; Tani,2000; Reiser, 1997; Ishige, 2000). The ability of the engineered E. colistrain to produce primary alcohol, such as octanol is confirmed usingHPLC, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) or liquidchromatography-mass spectrometry (LCMS).

Microbial strains engineered to have a functionalmalonyl-CoA-independent FAS and acyl-reduction pathway is furtheraugmented by optimization for efficient utilization of the pathway.Briefly, the engineered strain is assessed to determine whether any ofthe exogenous genes are expressed at a rate limiting level. Expressionis increased for any enzymes expressed at low levels that can limit theflux through the pathway by, for example, introduction of additionalgene copy numbers.

To generate better producers, metabolic modeling is utilized to optimizegrowth conditions. Modeling is also used to design gene knockouts thatadditionally optimize utilization of the pathway (see, for example, U.S.patent publications US 2002/0012939, US 2003/0224363, US 2004/0029149,US 2004/0072723, US 2003/0059792, US 2002/0168654 and US 2004/0009466,and in U.S. Pat. No. 7,127,379). Modeling analysis allows reliablepredictions of the effects on cell growth of shifting the metabolismtowards more efficient production of primary alcohols. One modelingmethod is the bilevel optimization approach, OptKnock (Burgard et al.,Biotechnol. Bioengineer. 84:647-657 (2003)), which is applied to selectgene knockouts that collectively result in better production of primaryalcohols. Adaptive evolution also can be used to generate betterproducers of, for example, the acetyl-CoA intermediate or the primaryalcohol product. Adaptive evolution is performed to improve both growthand production characteristics (Fong and Palsson, Nat. Genet.36:1056-1058 (2004); Alper et al., Science 314:1565-1568 (2006)). Basedon the results, subsequent rounds of modeling, genetic engineering andadaptive evolution can be applied to the primary alcohol producer tofurther increase their production.

For large-scale production of primary alcohols, the above malonyl-CoAindependent FAS pathway-containing organism is cultured in a fermenterusing a medium known in the art to support growth of the organism underanaerobic conditions. Fermentations are performed in either a batch,fed-batch or continuous manner. Anaerobic conditions are maintained byfirst sparging the medium with nitrogen and then sealing culture vessel(e.g., flasks can be sealed with a septum and crimp-cap). Microaerobicconditions also can be utilized by providing a small hole for limitedaeration. The pH of the medium is maintained at a pH of 7 by addition ofan acid, such as H2SO4. The growth rate is determined by measuringoptical density using a spectrophotometer (600 nm), and the glucoseuptake rate by monitoring carbon source depletion over time. Byproductssuch as undesirable alcohols, organic acids, and residual glucose can bequantified by HPLC (Shimadzu) with an HPX-087 column (BioRad), using arefractive index detector for glucose and alcohols, and a UV detectorfor organic acids, Lin et al., Biotechnol. Bioeng., 775-779 (2005).

Isolation of the product primary alcohol is performed based theirinsolubility in water. In particular, a two-phase fermentation processis used for separation of these product alcohols where they can eitherform a separate phase or be readily extracted in an organic phase fromthe fermentation broth. Residual cells and any other insolubleimpurities are removed by filtration, allowing a continuous orsemi-continuous fermentation process.

Example II Microorganisms Having Growth-Coupled Production of LCA

This Example describes the construction in silico designed strains forthe growth-coupled production of LCA.

E. coli K-12 MG1655 serves as the wild-type strain into which thedisruptions are introduced. The disruptions are constructed byincorporating in-frame deletions using homologous recombination via theλ Red recombinase system of Datsenko and Wanner. (Datsenko, K. A. and B.L. Wanner, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA., 97(12):6640-5 (2000).) The approachinvolves replacing a chromosomal sequence (i.e., the gene targeted forremoval) with a selectable antibiotic resistance gene, which itself islater removed. Knockouts are integrated one by one into the recipientstrain. No antibiotic resistance markers will remain after each deletionallowing accumulation of multiple mutations in each target strain. Thedeletion technology completely removes the gene targeted for removal soas to substantially reduce the possibility of the constructed mutantsreverting back to the wild-type.

As described further below, one exemplary growth condition for achievingbiosynthesis of LCA includes anaerobic culture or fermentationconditions. In certain embodiments, the non-naturally occurringmicrobial organism of the invention can be sustained, cultured orfermented under anaerobic or substantially anaerobic conditions.Briefly, anaerobic conditions refers to an environment devoid of oxygen.Substantially anaerobic conditions include, for example, a culture,batch fermentation or continuous fermentation such that the dissolvedoxygen concentration in the medium remains between 0 and 10% ofsaturation. Substantially anaerobic conditions also includes growing orresting cells in liquid medium or on solid agar inside a sealed chambermaintained with an atmosphere of less than 1% oxygen. The percent ofoxygen can be maintained by, for example, sparging the culture with anN₂/CO₂ mixture or other suitable non-oxygen gas or gases.

The engineered strains are characterized by measuring the growth rate,the substrate uptake rate, and the product/byproduct secretion rate.Cultures are grown overnight and used as inoculum for a fresh batchculture for which measurements are taken during exponential growth. Thegrowth rate is determined by measuring optical density using aspectrophotometer (A600). Concentrations of glucose, LCA, and otherorganic acid byproducts in the culture supernatant are determined byHPLC using an HPX-87H column (BioRad), and are used to calculate uptakeand secretion rates. All experiments are performed with triplicatecultures.

The recombinant strains can exhibit suboptimal growth rates until theirmetabolic networks have adjusted to their missing functionalities. Toenable this adjustment, the strains are adaptively evolved. Bysubjecting the strains to adaptive evolution, cellular growth ratebecomes the primary selection pressure and the mutant cells arecompelled to reallocate their metabolic fluxes in order to enhance theirrates of growth. This reprogramming of metabolism has been recentlydemonstrated for several E. coli mutants that had been adaptivelyevolved on various substrates to reach the growth rates predicted apriori by an in silico model. (Fong, S. S. and B. O. Palsson, Nat Genet,36(10):1056-8 (2004).) These teachings can be applied to Escherichiacoli.

Should the OptKnock predictions prove successful; the growthimprovements brought about by adaptive evolution will be accompanied byenhanced rates of LCA production. The OptKnock-generated strains areadaptively evolved in triplicate (running in parallel) due todifferences in the evolutionary patterns witnessed previously in E. coli(Fong, S. S. and B. O. Palsson, Nat Genet, 36(10):1056-8 (2004); Fong,S. S., J. Y. Marciniak, and B. O. Palsson, J Bacteriol, 185(21):6400-8(2003); Ibarra, R. U., J. S. Edwards, and B. O. Palsson, Nature,420(6912):186-189 (2002)) that could potentially result in one strainhaving superior production qualities over the others. Evolutions are runfor a period of 2-6 weeks, depending upon the rate of growth improvementattained. In general, evolutions are stopped once a stable phenotype isobtained.

The adaptive evolution procedure involves maintaining the cells inprolonged exponential growth by the serial passage of batch culturesinto fresh medium before the stationary phase is attained. Briefly, oneprocedure allows cells to reach mid-exponential growth (A₆₀₀=0.5) beforebeing diluted and passed to fresh medium (i.e., M9 minimal media with 2g/L carbon source). This process is repeated, allowing for about 500generations for each culture. Culture samples are taken, frozen withliquid nitrogen, and the optical culture density recorded for each daythroughout the course of the evolutions. The evolutions are performed intriplicate due to differences in the evolutionary patterns witnessedpreviously Donnelly et al., Appl Biochem Biotechnol 70-72: 187-98(1998); Vemuri et al., Appl Environ Microbiol 68:1715-27 (2002), thatcould potentially result in one strain having superior productionqualities over the others. The adaptive evolution step can take up toabout two months or more. The adaptive evolution step also can be lessthan two months depending on the strain design, for example.

Another process can evolve cells using automation technology and iscommercially available by Evolugate, LLC (Gainesville, Fla.) under aservice contract. The procedure employs the Evolugator™ evolutionmachine which results in significant time and effort savings overnon-automated evolution techniques. Cells are maintained in prolongedexponential growth by the serial passage of batch cultures into freshmedium before the stationary phase is attained. By automating opticaldensity measurement and liquid handling, the Evolugator can performserial transfer at high rates using large culture volumes, thusapproaching the efficiency of a chemostat for evolution of cell fitness.For example, a mutant of Acinetobacter sp ADP1 deficient in a componentof the translation apparatus, and having severely hampered growth, wasevolved in 200 generations to 80% of the wild-type growth rate. However,in contrast to the chemostat which maintains cells in a single vessel,the machine operates by moving from one “reactor” to the next insubdivided regions of a spool of tubing, thus eliminating any selectionfor wall-growth. The transfer volume is adjustable, and normally set toabout 50%.

In contrast to a chemostat, which maintains cells in a single vessel,the machine operates by moving from one “reactor” to the next insubdivided regions of a spool of tubing, thus eliminating any selectionfor wall-growth. Culture samples are taken, frozen with liquid nitrogen,and the optical culture density recorded each day throughout the courseof the evolutions. The Evolugator is used for each strain until a stablegrowth rate is achieved. Growth rate improvements of nearly 50% havebeen observed in two weeks using this device. The above-describedstrains are adaptively evolved in triplicate (running in parallel). Atten day intervals, culture samples are taken from the Evolugator,purified on agar plates, and cultured in triplicate as discussed aboveto assess strain physiology. Evolugator™ is a continuous culture devicethat exhibits significant time and effort savings over traditionalevolution techniques. (de Crecy et al., Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol.77:489-496 (2007)).

Following the adaptive evolution process, the new strains are againcharacterized by measuring the growth rate, the substrate uptake rate,and the product/byproduct secretion rate. These results are compared tothe OptKnock predictions by plotting actual growth and production yieldsalong side the production envelopes. The most successful OptKnockdesign/evolution combinations are chosen to pursue further, and ischaracterized in lab-scale batch and continuous fermentations. Thegrowth-coupled biochemical production concept behind the OptKnockapproach should also result in the generation of genetically stableoverproducers. Thus, the cultures can be maintained in continuous modefor one month to evaluate long-term stability. Periodic samples will betaken to ensure that yield and productivity are maintained throughoutthe experiment.

Example III Microorganisms Having Growth-Coupled Production of LCA

This Example describes the construction in silico designed strains forthe growth-coupled production of LCA.

Gene deletions are introduced into S. cerevisiae by homologousrecombination of the gene interrupted by the KanMX cassette, flanked byloxP sites enabling removal and recycling of the resistance marker (e.g.URA3) (Wach, A., et al., PCR-based gene targeting in Saccharomycescerevisiae, in Yeast Gene Analysis, M. F. Tuite, Editor. 1998, AcademicPress: San Diego). Starting with a loxP-kanMX-loxP sequence on aplasmid, an artificial construct with this sequence flanked by fragmentsof the gene of interest are created by PCR using primers containing both45-50 bp target sequence followed by a region homologous to the abovecassette. This linear DNA is transformed into wild-type S. cerevisiae,and recombinants are selected by geneticin resistance (Wach, A., et al.supra]. Colonies are purified and tested for correct double crossover byPCR. To remove the KanMX marker, a plasmid containing the Crerecombinase and bleomycin resistance are introduced, promotingrecombination between the loxP sites (Gueldener, U., et al., NucleicAcids Res. e23 (2002))]. Finally, the resulting strain is cured of theCre plasmid by successive culturing on media without any antibioticpresent. The final strain will have a markerless gene deletion, and thusthe same method can be used to introduce multiple deletions in the samestrain.

The strains are constructed, evolved, and tested by methods disclosedherein. Genes can be inserted into S. cerevisiae, for example, usingseveral methods. These methods can be plasmid-based whereas others allowfor the incorporation of the gene in the chromosome. The latter approachemploys an integrative promoter based expression vector, for example,the pGAPZ or the pGAPZα vector based on the GAP promoter. The expressionvector constitutes the GAP promoter, the HIS4 wild-type allele forintegration and the 3′ AOX transcription termination region of P.pastoris in addition to a KanMX cassette, flanked by loxP sites enablingremoval and recycling of the resistance marker. Both of these vectorsare commercially available from Invitrogen (Carlsbad, Calif.).

The method entails the synthesis and amplification of the gene ofinterest with suitable primers, followed by the digestion of the gene ata unique restriction site, such as that created by the EcoRI/XhoIenzymes (Vellanki et al., Biotechnol. Lett. 29:313-318 (2007)). The geneis inserted at the EcoRI and XhoI sites in the expression vector,downstream of the GAP promoter. The gene insertion is verified by PCRand/or DNA sequence analysis. The recombinant plasmid is then linearizedwith NarI for histidine integration, purified and integrated into thechromosomal DNA of S. cerevisiae using an appropriate transformationmethod. The cells are plated on the YPD medium with the appropriateselection marker (e.g., kanamycin) and incubated for 2-3 days. Thetransformants will then be analyzed for the requisite gene insert bycolony PCR.

To remove the antibiotic marker, a plasmid containing the Crerecombinase is introduced, promoting recombination between the loxPsites (Gueldener et al., supra). Finally, the resulting strain is curedof the Cre plasmid by successive culturing on media without anyantibiotic present. The final strain will have a markerless genedeletion, and thus the same method can be used to introduce multipleinsertions in the same strain.

The engineered strains are characterized by measuring the growth rate,the substrate uptake rate, and the product/byproduct secretion rate.Cultures are grown overnight and used as inoculum for a fresh batchculture for which measurements are taken during exponential growth. Thegrowth rate is determined by measuring optical density using aspectrophotometer (A600). Concentrations of glucose, alcohols, and otherorganic acid byproducts in the culture supernatant are determined byanalytical methods including HPLC using an HPX-87H column (BioRad), orGC-MS, and used to calculate uptake and secretion rates. All experimentsare performed with triplicate cultures.

The knockout strains are initially anticipated to exhibit suboptimalgrowth rates until their metabolic networks have adjusted to theirmissing functionalities. To enable this adjustment, the strains will beadaptively evolved. By subjecting the strains to adaptive evolution,cellular growth rate becomes the primary selection pressure and themutant cells will be compelled to reallocate their metabolic fluxes inorder to enhance their rates of growth. This reprogramming of metabolismhas been recently demonstrated for several E. coli mutants that had beenadaptively evolved on various substrates to reach the growth ratespredicted a priori by an in silico model. The growth improvementsbrought about by adaptive evolution can be accompanied by enhanced ratesof LCA production. The OptKnock-generated strains can be adaptivelyevolved in triplicate (running in parallel) due to differences in theevolutionary patterns witnessed previously in E. coli that couldpotentially result in one strain having superior production qualitiesover the others. Evolutions can be run for a period of 2-6 weeks, orlonger depending upon the rate of growth improvement attained. Ingeneral, evolutions can be stopped once a stable phenotype is obtained.

The adaptive evolution procedure involves maintaining the cells inprolonged exponential growth by the serial passage of batch culturesinto fresh medium before the stationary phase is attained. Briefly, oneprocedure allows cells to reach mid-exponential growth (A₆₀₀=0.5) beforebeing diluted and passed to fresh medium (i.e., M9 minimal media with 2g/L carbon source). This process is repeated, allowing for about 500generations for each culture. Culture samples are taken, frozen withliquid nitrogen, and the optical culture density recorded for each daythroughout the course of the evolutions. The evolutions are performed intriplicate due to differences in the evolutionary patterns witnessedpreviously Donnelly et al., Appl Biochem Biotechnol. 70-72: 187-98(1998); Vemuri et al., Appl Environ Microbiol. 68:1715-27 (2002), thatcould potentially result in one strain having superior productionqualities over the others. The adaptive evolution step can take up toabout two months or more. The adaptive evolution step also can be lessthan two months depending on the strain design, for example.

Another process can evolve cells using automation technology and iscommercially available by Evolugate, LLC (Gainesville, Fla.) under aservice contract. The procedure employs the Evolugator™ evolutionmachine which results in significant time and effort savings overnon-automated evolution techniques. Cells are maintained in prolongedexponential growth by the serial passage of batch cultures into freshmedium before the stationary phase is attained. By automating opticaldensity measurement and liquid handling, the Evolugator can performserial transfer at high rates using large culture volumes, thusapproaching the efficiency of a chemostat for evolution of cell fitness.In contrast to a chemostat, which maintains cells in a single vessel,the machine operates by moving from one “reactor” to the next insubdivided regions of a spool of tubing, thus eliminating any selectionfor wall-growth. Culture samples are taken, frozen with liquid nitrogen,and the optical culture density recorded each day throughout the courseof the evolutions. The Evolugator is used for each strain until a stablegrowth rate is achieved. Growth rate improvements of nearly 50% havebeen observed in two weeks using this device. The above-describedstrains are adaptively evolved in triplicate (running in parallel). Atten day intervals, culture samples are taken from the Evolugator,purified on agar plates, and cultured in triplicate as discussed aboveto assess strain physiology.

Following the adaptive evolution process, the new strains are againcharacterized by measuring the growth rate, the substrate uptake rate,and the product/byproduct secretion rate. These results are compared tothe OptKnock predictions by plotting actual growth and production yieldsalong side the production envelopes. The most successful OptKnockdesign/evolution combinations are chosen to pursue further, and ischaracterized in lab-scale batch and continuous fermentations. Thegrowth-coupled biochemical production concept behind the OptKnockapproach should also result in the generation of genetically stableoverproducers. Thus, the cultures can be maintained in continuous modefor one month to evaluate long-term stability. Periodic samples will betaken to ensure that yield and productivity are maintained throughoutthe experiment.

Described herein above, is the application of the OptKnock methodologyfor generating useful gene disruption targets. Multiple disruptionstrategies were enumerated for establishing the coupling between LCAproduction and Escherichia coli growth. This methodology is applicableto a wide variety of cells and microorganisms other than Escherichiacoli and also can utilize metabolic modeling and simulation systemsother than OptKnock.

The combined computational and engineering platform described herein isgenerally applicable to any stoichiometric model organism and theteachings and guidance provided herein will allow those skilled in theart to design and implement sets of genetic manipulations for metabolicalterations that lead to the growth-coupled production of anybiochemical product.

Throughout this application various publications have been referencedwithin parentheses. The disclosures of these publications in theirentireties are hereby incorporated by reference in this application inorder to more fully describe the state of the art to which thisinvention pertains.

The present disclosure provides gene disruption strategies forgrowth-coupled production of LCA in Escherichia coli under anaerobicconditions. The suggested strategies can increase product yieldssignificantly over the reported yields for each of these products. Acomprehensive list of the strategies is listed in Table 1 for LCAproduction. The associated genes and stoichiometries for each of thereaction disruption are catalogued in Table 2. Table 3 lists metaboliteabbreviations and their corresponding names along with their location.

TABLE 1 The list of all disruption strategies identified by OptKnockthat are most likely to provide growth-coupled LCA produciton. 1 ADHErLDH_D ASPT MDH PFLi PGDHY PYK DHAPT 2 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT MDH PFLi PGL PYKDHAPT 3 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT G6PDHy MDH PFLi PYK DHAPT 4 ADHEr LDH_D ASPTEDA MDH PFLi PYK DHAPT 5 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy PGDH PGI PTAr 6 ADHErLDH_D ACKr GLCpts GLUDy PGDH PGI 7 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy PGI PTAr TAL8 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy PGI PTAr TKT1 9 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts GLUDyPGI TKT1 10 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts GLUDy PGI TAL 11 ADHEr LDH_D FBAGLCpts GLUDy PTAr 12 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy PTAr TPI 13 ADHEr LDH_DACKr GLCpts GLUDy TPI 14 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy PFK PTAr 15 ADHErLDH_D ACKr FBA GLCpts GLUDy 16 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts GLUDy PFK 17ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts GLUDy PGI RPE 18 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy PGIPTAr RPE 19 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy PGI PTAr TKT2 20 ADHEr LDH_D ACKrGLCpts GLUDy PGI TKT2 21 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts PGDH PGI 22 ADHEr LDH_DGLCpts PGDH PGI PTAr 23 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts PGI TKT1 24 ADHEr LDH_DACKr GLCpts PGI TAL 25 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PGI PTAr TAL 26 ADHEr LDH_DGLCpts PGI PTAr TKT1 27 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts PFK 28 ADHEr LDH_D ACKrGLCpts TPI 29 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr FBA GLCpts 30 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLCpts PTAr31 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PFK PTAr 32 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PTAr TPI 33 ADHErLDH_D ACKr GLCpts PGI RPE 34 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PGI PTAr RPE 35 ADHErLDH_D FRD2 GLCpts GLUDy PFLi PGI 36 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts PGI TKT2 37ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PGI PTAr TKT2 38 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 GLCpts GLUDy PFLiTPI 39 ADHEr LDH_D FBA FRD2 GLCpts GLUDy PFLi 40 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 GLCptsGLUDy PFK PFLi 41 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FUM NADH6 PGI 42 ADHEr LDH_DASPT ATPS4r MDH NADH6 PGI 43 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r MDH NADH6 PFK 44ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FBA FUM NADH6 45 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FUMNADH6 TPI 46 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r MDH NADH6 TPI 47 ADHEr LDH_D ASPTATPS4r FBA MDH NADH6 48 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FUM NADH6 PFK 49 ADHErLDH_D FUM GLCpts GLUDy PFLi PGI 50 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy MDH PFLi PGI51 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PFLi PGI SUCD4 52 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts NADH6 PFLiPGI 53 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 GLCpts PFLi PGI 54 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy HEX1PGDH PGI 55 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy HEX1 PGDH PGI PTAr 56 ADHEr LDH_D FUMGLCpts GLUDy PFK PFLi 57 ADHEr LDH_D FBA FUM GLCpts GLUDy PFLi 58 ADHErLDH_D GLCpts GLUDy MDH PFK PFLi 59 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLCpts GLUDy PFLi TPI60 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLCpts GLUDy MDH PFLi 61 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy MDHPFLi TPI 62 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts NADH6 PFLi TPI 63 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 GLCptsPFLi TPI 64 ADHEr LDH_D FBA FRD2 GLCpts PFLi 65 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLCptsNADH6 PFLi 66 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLCpts PFLi SUCD4 67 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2GLCpts PFK PFLi 68 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PFLi SUCD4 TPI 69 ADHEr LDH_DGLCpts PFK PFLi SUCD4 70 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts NADH6 PFK PFLi 71 ADHErLDH_D ASPT GLCpts MDH PFLi PGI 72 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FUM GLCpts PFLi PGI73 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r MDH PGI PPS 74 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FUMPGI PPS 75 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy HEX1 PGI PTAr TAL 76 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDyHEX1 PGI TAL 77 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy HEX1 PGI TKT1 78 ADHEr LDH_DGLUDy HEX1 PGI PTAr TKT1 79 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy HEX1 TPI 80 ADHErLDH_D ACKr GLUDy HEX1 PFK 81 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy HEX1 PTAr TPI 82 ADHErLDH_D GLUDy HEX1 PFK PTAr 83 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr FBA GLUDy HEX1 84 ADHErLDH_D FBA GLUDy HEX1 PTAr 85 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT GLCpts MDH PFLi TPI 86ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FBA GLCpts MDH PFLi 87 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT GLCpts MDH PFKPFLi 88 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FUM GLCpts PFK PFLi 89 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FUMGLCpts PFLi TPI 90 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FBA FUM GLCpts PFLi 91 ADHEr LDH_DGLUDy HEX1 PGI PTAr RPE 92 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy HEX1 PGI RPE 93 ADHErLDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FUM GLUDy PGI 94 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r GLUDy MDH PGI95 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FBA MDH PPS 96 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FUMPFK PPS 97 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r MDH PFK PPS 98 ADHEr LDH_D ASPTATPS4r MDH PPS TPI 99 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FUM PPS TPI 100 ADHErLDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FBA FUM PPS 101 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy HEX1 PGI TKT2102 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy HEX1 PGI PTAr TKT2 103 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FBAFUM GLUDy 104 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r GLUDy MDH PFK 105 ADHEr LDH_D ASPTATPS4r FBA GLUDy MDH 106 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FUM GLUDy TPI 107 ADHErLDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FUM GLUDy PFK 108 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r GLUDy MDHTPI 109 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy PGDH PGI 110 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PGDH PGIPTAr 111 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy PGI TAL 112 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PGI PTArTKT1 113 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy PGI TKT1 114 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PGI PTArTAL 115 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy TPI 116 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PFK PTAr 117ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLUDy PTAr 118 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr FBA GLUDy 119 ADHErLDH_D ACKr GLUDy PFK 120 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PTAr TPI 121 ADHEr LDH_D ACKrGLUDy PGI RPE 122 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PGI PTAr RPE 123 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDyPGI PTAr TKT2 124 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy PGI TKT2 125 ADHEr LDH_D HEX1PGDH PGI PTAr 126 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr HEX1 PGDH PGI 127 ADHEr LDH_D ASPTATPS4r CBMK2 FUM PGI 128 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r CBMK2 MDH PGI 129 ADHErLDH_D HEX1 PGI PTAr TAL 130 ADHEr LDH_D HEX1 PGI PTAr TKT1 131 ADHErLDH_D ACKr HEX1 PGI TKT1 132 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr HEX1 PGI TAL 133 ADHErLDH_D GLUDy HEX1 PFLi PGI SUCD4 134 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 GLUDy HEX1 PFLi PGI135 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy HEX1 NADH6 PFLi PGI 136 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr FBA HEX1137 ADHEr LDH_D FBA HEX1 PTAr 138 ADHEr LDH_D HEX1 PFK PTAr 139 ADHErLDH_D ACKr HEX1 PFK 140 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr HEX1 TPI 141 ADHEr LDH_D HEX1PTAr TPI 142 ADHEr LDH_D HEX1 PGI PTAr RPE 143 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr HEX1 PGIRPE 144 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r CBMK2 FBA FUM 145 ADHEr LDH_D ASPTATPS4r CBMK2 FBA MDH 146 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r CBMK2 MDH TPI 147 ADHErLDH_D ASPT ATPS4r CBMK2 FUM PFK 148 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r CBMK2 FUMTPI 149 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r CBMK2 MDH PFK 150 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLUDyHEX1 NADH6 PFLi 151 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy HEX1 NADH6 PFK PFLi 152 ADHErLDH_D FBA GLUDy HEX1 PFLi SUCD4 153 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 GLUDy HEX1 PFK PFLi154 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy HEX1 PFK PFLi SUCD4 155 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy HEX1NADH6 PFLi TPI 156 ADHEr LDH_D FBA FRD2 GLUDy HEX1 PFLi 157 ADHEr LDH_DGLUDy HEX1 PFLi SUCD4 TPI 158 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 GLUDy HEX1 PFLi TPI 159ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy HEX1 MDH PFLi PGI 160 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDy HEX1 PFLiPGI 161 ADHEr LDH_D HEX1 PGI PTAr TKT2 162 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr HEX1 PGITKT2 163 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy HEX1 MDH PFK 164 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4rFBA GLUDy HEX1 MDH 165 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy HEX1 MDH TPI 166 ADHErLDH_D ATPS4r FBA FUM GLUDy HEX1 167 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FUM GLUDy HEX1PFK 168 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FUM GLUDy HEX1 TPI 169 ADHEr LDH_D FBA FUMGLUDy HEX1 PFLi 170 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDy HEX1 PFLi TPI 171 ADHEr LDH_DGLUDy HEX1 MDH PFLi TPI 172 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy HEX1 MDH PFK PFLi 173ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLUDy HEX1 MDH PFLi 174 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDy HEX1 PFKPFLi 175 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FUM GLUDy HEX1 PGI 176 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4rGLUDy HEX1 MDH PGI 177 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r MDH PGI 178 ADHEr LDH_DASPT ATPS4r FUM PGI 179 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy MDH NADH6 PGI 180 ADHErLDH_D ATPS4r FUM GLUDy NADH6 PGI 181 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy HEX1 PGDHPGI 182 ADHEr LDH_D PGDH PGI PTAr 183 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr PGDH PGI 184ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy HEX1 PFLi PGI 185 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r MDHTPI 186 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FUM TPI 187 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r MDHPFK 188 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FBA FUM 189 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FBAMDH 190 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FUM PFK 191 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr PGI TKT1192 ADHEr LDH_D PGI PTAr TAL 193 ADHEr LDH_D PGI PTAr TKT1 194 ADHErLDH_D ACKr PGI TAL 195 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FBA GLUDy MDH NADH6 196 ADHErLDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy MDH NADH6 PFK 197 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy MDH NADH6TPI 198 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FUM GLUDy NADH6 TPI 199 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4rFUM GLUDy NADH6 PFK 200 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FBA FUM GLUDy NADH6 201 ADHErLDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy HEX1 PGI TAL 202 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy HEX1 PGITKT1 203 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy HEX1 PFK 204 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDyHEX1 TPI 205 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FBA GLUDy HEX1 206 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDyPTAr PYK SUCD4 207 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy PYK SUCD4 208 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2GLUDy PTAr PYK 209 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr FRD2 GLUDy PYK 210 ADHEr LDH_D FDH2GLUDy NADH6 PTAr PYK 211 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr FDH2 GLUDy NADH6 PYK 212 ADHErLDH_D PFK PTAr 213 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr TPI 214 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr FBA 215ADHEr LDH_D PTAr TPI 216 ADHEr LDH_D FBA PTAr 217 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr PFK218 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 GLUDy PFLi PGI 219 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PFLi PGI PRO1zSUCD4 220 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr PGI RPE 221 ADHEr LDH_D PGI PTAr RPE 222ADHEr LDH_D ACKr PGI TKT2 223 ADHEr LDH_D PGI PTAr TKT2 224 ADHEr LDH_DATPS4r GLUDy HEX1 PGI RPE 225 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 GLUDy PFLi TPI 226 ADHErLDH_D FRD2 GLUDy PFK PFLi 227 ADHEr LDH_D FBA FRD2 GLUDy PFLi 228 ADHErLDH_D GLUDy PFK PFLi PRO1z SUCD4 229 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PFLi PRO1z SUCD4TPI 230 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLUDy PFLi PRO1z SUCD4 231 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy MDHPFLi PGI SUCD4 232 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDy NADH6 PFLi PGI 233 ADHEr LDH_DGLUDy MDH NADH6 PFLi PGI 234 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDy PFLi PGI SUCD4 235ADHEr LDH_D ASPT GLUDy MDH PFLi PGI 236 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FUM GLUDy PFLiPGI 237 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy HEX1 PGI TKT2 238 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDyPFK PFLi SUCD4 239 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy MDH NADH6 PFK PFLi 240 ADHEr LDH_DFUM GLUDy PFLi SUCD4 TPI 241 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDy NADH6 PFK PFLi 242ADHEr LDH_D FBA FUM GLUDy PFLi SUCD4 243 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy MDH PFLiSUCD4 TPI 244 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy MDH PFK PFLi SUCD4 245 ADHEr LDH_D FBAFUM GLUDy NADH6 PFLi 246 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLUDy MDH PFLi SUCD4 247 ADHErLDH_D FBA GLUDy MDH NADH6 PFLi 248 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy MDH NADH6 PFLi TPI249 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDy NADH6 PFLi TPI 250 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FUMNADH6 PYK 251 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r MDH NADH6 PYK 252 ADHEr LDH_DGLCpts GLUDy PFLi PGI PTAr 253 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts GLUDy PFLi PGI254 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FBA GLUDy MDH PFLi 255 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT GLUDy MDHPFK PFLi 256 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FBA FUM GLUDy PFLi 257 ADHEr LDH_D ASPTGLUDy MDH PFLi TPI 258 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FUM GLUDy PFLi TPI 259 ADHErLDH_D ASPT FUM GLUDy PFK PFLi 260 ADHEr LDH_D ME2 PGL PTAr PYK SUCD4 261ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 G6PDHy ME2 PTAr PYK 262 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr ME2 PGL PYKSUCD4 263 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr FRD2 ME2 PGL PYK 264 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 ME2 PGLPTAr PYK 265 ADHEr LDH_D G6PDHy ME2 PTAr PYK SUCD4 266 ADHEr LDH_D ACKrFRD2 G6PDHy ME2 PYK 267 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr G6PDHy ME2 PYK SUCD4 268 ADHErLDH_D G6PDHy MDH PTAr PYK SUCD4 269 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr G6PDHy MDH NADH6PYK 270 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 G6PDHy MDH PTAr PYK 271 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 MDHPGL PTAr PYK 272 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr G6PDHy MDH PYK SUCD4 273 ADHEr LDH_DACKr MDH PGL PYK SUCD4 274 ADHEr LDH_D MDH NADH6 PGL PTAr PYK 275 ADHErLDH_D ACKr MDH NADH6 PGL PYK 276 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr FRD2 G6PDHy MDH PYK277 ADHEr LDH_D MDH PGL PTAr PYK SUCD4 278 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr FRD2 MDH PGLPYK 279 ADHEr LDH_D G6PDHy MDH NADH6 PTAr PYK 280 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4rGLUDy NADH6 PGI 281 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDy PTAr PYK 282 ADHEr LDH_D ACKrGLUDy MDH PYK 283 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr FUM GLUDy PYK 284 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDyMDH PTAr PYK 285 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r HEX1 PGDH PGI 286 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4rGLUDy NADH6 TPI 287 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy NADH6 PFK 288 ADHEr LDH_DATPS4r FBA GLUDy NADH6 289 ADHEr LDH_D HEX1 PFLi PGI 290 ADHEr LDH_DASPT ATPS4r GLUDy MDH PYK 291 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FUM GLUDy PYK 292ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r HEX1 PGI TKT1 293 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r HEX1 PGI TAL 294ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r HEX1 PFK 295 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FBA HEX1 296 ADHErLDH_D ATPS4r HEX1 TPI 297 ADHEr LDH_D HEX1 PFLi TPI 298 ADHEr LDH_D HEX1PFK PFLi 299 ADHEr LDH_D FBA HEX1 PFLi 300 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r HEX1 PGIRPE 301 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy NADH6 PGI PYK 302 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy NADH6PGI PTAr PYK 303 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r HEX1 PGI TKT2 304 ADHEr LDH_D ACKrFRD2 PYK 305 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr PYK SUCD4 306 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 PTAr PYK307 ADHEr LDH_D PTAr PYK SUCD4 308 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr FDH2 NADH6 PYK 309ADHEr LDH_D FDH2 NADH6 PTAr PYK 310 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r NADH6 PGI 311ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts PFLi PGI 312 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PFLi PGI PTAr313 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 GLUDy PFLi PYK 314 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FUM GLUDyPGDH PGI 315 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy MDH PGDH PGI 316 ADHEr LDH_D FUMGLUDy PFLi PGI 317 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy MDH PFLi PGI 318 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4rFBA NADH6 319 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r NADH6 PFK 320 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r NADH6TPI 321 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FBA FUM GLUDy 322 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FUMGLUDy PFK 323 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FBA GLUDy MDH 324 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4rGLUDy MDH TPI 325 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FUM GLUDy TPI 326 ADHEr LDH_DATPS4r GLUDy MDH PFK 327 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 G6PDHy ME2 PFLi PYK 328 ADHErLDH_D FRD2 ME2 PFLi PGL PYK 329 ADHEr LDH_D EDA FRD2 ME2 PFLi PYK 330ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 ME2 PFLi PGDHY PYK 331 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy MDH PFK PFLi332 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLUDy MDH PFLi 333 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy MDH PFLi TPI334 ADHEr LDH_D FBA FUM GLUDy PFLi 335 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDy PFLi TPI336 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDy PFK PFLi 337 ADHEr LDH_D PFLi PGI SUCD4 338ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 PFLi PGI 339 ADHEr LDH_D NADH6 PFLi PGI 340 ADHEr LDH_DFRD2 MDH PFLi PGL PYK 341 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 G6PDHy MDH PFLi PYK 342 ADHErLDH_D FRD2 MDH PFLi PGDHY PYK 343 ADHEr LDH_D EDA FRD2 MDH PFLi PYK 344ADHEr LDH_D ACKr ASPT MDH PYK 345 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT MDH PTAr PYK 346ADHEr LDH_D ACKr ASPT FUM PYK 347 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FUM PTAr PYK 348ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy MDH PGI 349 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FUM GLUDy PGI350 ADHEr LDH_D FBA PFLi SUCD4 351 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 PFK PFLi 352 ADHErLDH_D PFLi SUCD4 TPI 353 ADHEr LDH_D FBA FRD2 PFLi 354 ADHEr LDH_D PFKPFLi SUCD4 355 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 PFLi TPI 356 ADHEr LDH_D NADH6 PFLi TPI357 ADHEr LDH_D FBA NADH6 PFLi 358 ADHEr LDH_D NADH6 PFK PFLi 359 ADHErLDH_D ASPT MDH PFLi PGI 360 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FUM PFLi PGI 361 ADHErLDH_D ASPT GLUDy MDH PFLi PYK 362 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FUM GLUDy PFLi PYK363 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r CBMK2 FUM PYK 364 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT MDH PFLiTPI 365 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FUM PFLi TPI 366 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FBA MDH PFLi367 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FBA FUM PFLi 368 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT MDH PFK PFLi 369ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FUM PFK PFLi 370 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr NADH6 PGI PYK 371ADHEr LDH_D NADH6 PGI PTAr PYK 372 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FUM PYK 373ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r MALS MDH PYK 374 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r ICL MDHPYK 375 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PFLi PGDH PGI 376 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDyPFLi PGI 377 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLUDy PFLi 378 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PFLi TPI379 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PFK PFLi 380 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PFLi PGI TAL 381ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PFLi PGI TKT1 382 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PFLi PRO1z PYKSUCD4 383 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy MDH NADH6 PFLi PYK 384 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy MDHPFLi PYK SUCD4 385 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDy PFLi PYK SUCD4 386 ADHEr LDH_DFUM GLUDy NADH6 PFLi PYK 387 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PFLi PGI 388 ADHEr LDH_DEDA MDH PFLi PYK SUCD4 389 ADHEr LDH_D MDH PFLi PGDHY PYK SUCD4 390ADHEr LDH_D MDH PFLi PGL PYK SUCD4 391 ADHEr LDH_D G6PDHy MDH PFLi PYKSUCD4 392 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy MDH NADH6 PYK 393 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4rFUM GLUDy NADH6 PYK 394 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr AKGD ATPS4r GLUDy PYK 395 ADHErLDH_D AKGD ATPS4r GLUDy PTAr PYK 396 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 PFLi PYK 397 ADHErLDH_D ALAR PFLi PRO1z PYK SUCD4 398 ADHEr LDH_D DAAD PFLi PRO1z PYKSUCD4 399 ADHEr LDH_D PFLi PGDH PGI 400 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r PFLi PGI 401ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FUM GLUDy PFLi PYK 402 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy MDHPFLi PYK 403 ADHEr LDH_D PFLi TPI 404 ADHEr LDH_D FBA PFLi 405 ADHErLDH_D PFK PFLi 406 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FUM PFLi PYK 407 ADHEr LDH_D ASPTMDH PFLi PYK 408 ADHEr LDH_D PFLi PGI TKT1 409 ADHEr LDH_D PFLi PGI TAL410 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FUM GLUDy NADH6 411 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4rGLUDy MDH NADH6 412 ADHEr LDH_D G6PDHy ME2 PFLi PYK SUCD4 413 ADHErLDH_D EDA ME2 PFLi PYK SUCD4 414 ADHEr LDH_D ME2 PFLi PGDHY PYK SUCD4415 ADHEr LDH_D ME2 PFLi PGL PYK SUCD4 416 ADHEr LDH_D MDH NADH6 PFLiPGDHY PYK 417 ADHEr LDH_D G6PDHy MDH NADH6 PFLi PYK 418 ADHEr LDH_D EDAMDH NADH6 PFLi PYK 419 ADHEr LDH_D MDH NADH6 PFLi PGL PYK 420 ADHErLDH_D ASPT ATPS4r CBMK2 MDH NADH6 421 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r CBMK2 FUMNADH6 422 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 PFLi PGI RPE 423 ADHEr LDH_D ASNS2 GLU5KPFLi PGI RPE 424 ADHEr LDH_D ASNS2 G5SD PFLi PGI RPE 425 ADHEr LDH_DASPT ATPS4r GLUDy MDH PTAr 426 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FUM GLUDy PTAr427 ADHEr LDH_D PFLi PGI 428 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FUM GLUDy 429 ADHErLDH_D ASPT ATPS4r GLUDy MDH 430 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr AKGD ATPS4r PYK 431ADHEr LDH_D AKGD ATPS4r PTAr PYK 432 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r MDH NADH6433 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FUM NADH6 434 ADHEr LDH_D G6PDHy GLCptsGLUDy PTAr 435 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts GLUDy PGL 436 ADHEr LDH_D GLCptsGLUDy PGDH PTAr 437 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy PGL PTAr 438 ADHEr LDH_DACKr G6PDHy GLCpts GLUDy 439 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts GLUDy PGDH 440ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy PTAr TKT1 441 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy PTAr TAL442 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts GLUDy TKT1 443 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts GLUDyTAL 444 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts GLUDy RPE 445 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDyPTAr RPE 446 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts GLUDy TKT2 447 ADHEr LDH_D GLCptsGLUDy PTAr TKT2 448 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PGDH PTAr THD2 449 ADHEr LDH_DG6PDHy GLCpts PTAr THD2 450 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr G6PDHy GLCpts THD2 451ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts PGL THD2 452 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts PGDH THD2453 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PGL PTAr THD2 454 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts THD2TKT1 455 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts TAL THD2 456 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PTArTAL THD2 457 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PTAr THD2 TKT1 458 ADHEr LDH_D ASPTATPS4r MDH 459 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT ATPS4r FUM 460 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PTArRPE THD2 461 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts RPE THD2 462 ADHEr LDH_D ACKrATPS4r PYK SUCOAS 463 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r PTAr PYK SUCOAS 464 ADHEr LDH_DFRD2 GLCpts GLUDy PFLi 465 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PTAr THD2 TKT2 466 ADHErLDH_D ACKr GLCpts THD2 TKT2 467 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 GLCpts PFLi THD2 468ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy PGDH THD2 469 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PGL PTAr THD2 470ADHEr LDH_D G6PDHy GLUDy PTAr THD2 471 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PGDH PTAr THD2472 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy PGL THD2 473 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr G6PDHy GLUDyTHD2 474 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 GLUDy PFLi THD2 475 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PTArTHD2 TKT1 476 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PTAr TAL THD2 477 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDyTAL THD2 478 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy THD2 TKT1 479 ADHEr LDH_D ACKrGLCpts PGDH 480 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts PGL 481 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PGDHPTAr 482 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PGL PTAr 483 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr G6PDHy GLCpts484 ADHEr LDH_D G6PDHy GLCpts PTAr 485 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PTAr RPE THD2486 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy RPE THD2 487 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy PTAr488 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts GLUDy 489 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PTAr TKT1 490ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PTAr TAL 491 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts TAL 492 ADHErLDH_D ACKr GLCpts TKT1 493 ADHEr LDH_D NADH6 PFLi PTAr PYK 494 ADHErLDH_D ACKr NADH6 PFLi PYK 495 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy THD2 TKT2 496 ADHErLDH_D GLUDy PTAr THD2 TKT2 497 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts RPE 498 ADHErLDH_D GLCpts PTAr RPE 499 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts TKT2 500 ADHEr LDH_DGLCpts PTAr TKT2 501 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy PGDH 502 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDyPGL PTAr 503 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy PGL 504 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr G6PDHyGLUDy 505 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PGDH PTAr 506 ADHEr LDH_D G6PDHy GLUDy PTAr507 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PTAr TKT1 508 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy TKT1 509ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy TAL 510 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PTAr TAL 511 ADHErLDH_D GLUDy PTAr RPE 512 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy RPE 513 ADHEr LDH_DGLUDy PTAr TKT2 514 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy TKT2 515 ADHEr LDH_D PGDHPTAr THD2 516 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr PGDH THD2 517 ADHEr LDH_D G6PDHy PTArTHD2 518 ADHEr LDH_D PGL PTAr THD2 519 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr PGL THD2 520ADHEr LDH_D ACKr G6PDHy THD2 521 ADHEr LDH_D PTAr TAL THD2 522 ADHErLDH_D ACKr THD2 TKT1 523 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr TAL THD2 524 ADHEr LDH_D PTArTHD2 TKT1 525 ADHEr LDH_D PTAr RPE THD2 526 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr RPE THD2527 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 GLUDy PFLi 528 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PFLi PRO1z SUCD4529 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 GLCpts PFLi 530 ADHEr LDH_D PTAr THD2 TKT2 531ADHEr LDH_D ACKr THD2 TKT2 532 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLCpts 533 ADHEr LDH_DGLCpts PTAr 534 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 PFLi THD2 535 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FUMGLUDy 536 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy MDH 537 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLCpts PFLiSUCD4 538 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts MDH PFLi SUCD4 539 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDyPFLi SUCD4 540 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy MDH PFLi SUCD4 541 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDyMDH NADH6 PFLi 542 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDy NADH6 PFLi 543 ADHEr LDH_D MDHPFLi SUCD4 THD2 544 ADHEr LDH_D FUM PFLi SUCD4 THD2 545 ADHEr LDH_D ASPTFUM GLCpts PFLi 546 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT GLCpts MDH PFLi 547 ADHEr LDH_DASPT FUM GLUDy PFLi 548 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT GLUDy MDH PFLi 549 ADHEr LDH_DGLCpts PFLi SUCD4 THD2 550 ADHEr LDH_D PGDH PTAr 551 ADHEr LDH_D PGLPTAr 552 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr PGL 553 ADHEr LDH_D G6PDHy PTAr 554 ADHErLDH_D ACKr G6PDHy 555 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr PGDH 556 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FUMPFLi THD2 557 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT MDH PFLi THD2 558 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr GLUDy559 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PTAr 560 ADHEr LDH_D PTAr TAL 561 ADHEr LDH_D ACKrTAL 562 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr TKT1 563 ADHEr LDH_D PTAr TKT1 564 ADHEr LDH_DACKr RPE 565 ADHEr LDH_D PTAr RPE 566 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy PFLiSUCD4 567 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLCpts GLUDy PFLi 568 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDyMDH PFLi 569 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr TKT2 570 ADHEr LDH_D PTAr TKT2 571 ADHErLDH_D GLUDy PFLi SUCD4 THD2 572 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDy PFLi THD2 573ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy MDH PFLi THD2 574 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy NADH6 PFLi575 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy NADH6 PFLi 576 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts MDH PFLiTHD2 577 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLCpts PFLi THD2 578 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr CBMK2FRD2 PFLi 579 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 FRD2 PFLi PTAr 580 ADHEr LDH_D MDH PTArSUCD4 581 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 MDH PTAr 582 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr MDH SUCD4 583ADHEr LDH_D ACKr FRD2 MDH 584 ADHEr LDH_D FDH2 MDH NADH6 PTAr 585 ADHErLDH_D ACKr FDH2 MDH NADH6 586 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts NADH6 PFLi THD2 587ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PFLi SUCD4 588 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts NADH12 NADH6 PFLi589 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FUM PGL 590 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r MDH PGDH 591 ADHErLDH_D ATPS4r FUM PGDH 592 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FUM G6PDHy 593 ADHEr LDH_DGLCpts MDH NADH6 PFLi 594 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLCpts NADH6 PFLi 595 ADHErLDH_D FRD2 PFLi 596 ADHEr LDH_D ALAR PFLi PRO1z SUCD4 597 ADHEr LDH_DDAAD PFLi PRO1z SUCD4 598 ADHEr LDH_D ACKr 599 ADHEr LDH_D PTAr 600ADHEr LDH_D FUM PFLi SUCD4 601 ADHEr LDH_D MDH PFLi SUCD4 602 ADHErLDH_D FUM NADH12 NADH6 PFLi 603 ADHEr LDH_D MDH NADH12 NADH6 PFLi 604ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r MDH TKT1 605 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FUM TKT1 606 ADHErLDH_D ATPS4r MDH TAL 607 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FUM TAL 608 ADHEr LDH_DATPS4r NADH6 PFLi PYK 609 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FUM PFLi 610 ADHEr LDH_D ASPTMDH PFLi 611 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r MDH RPE 612 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FUM RPE613 ADHEr LDH_D PFLi SUCD4 THD2 614 ADHEr LDH_D NADH12 NADH6 PFLi THD2615 ADHEr LDH_D FUM NADH6 PFLi THD2 616 ADHEr LDH_D MDH NADH6 PFLi THD2617 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r MDH TKT2 618 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FUM TKT2 619ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts NADH6 PFLi 620 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy NADH6 PFLi THD2 621ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PFLi SUCD4 622 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy NADH12 NADH6 PFLi 623ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDy PFLi 624 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy MDH PFLi 625 ADHErLDH_D ATPS4r FUM NADH6 626 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r MDH NADH6 627 ADHEr LDH_DATPS4r G6PDHy GLUDy NADH6 628 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy NADH6 PGDH 629ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy NADH6 PGL 630 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r MDH PFLi THD2631 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r FUM PFLi THD2 632 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy NADH6TKT1 633 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy NADH6 TAL 634 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDyPFLi THD2 635 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts MDH PFLi 636 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLCptsPFLi 637 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy NADH6 PFLi 638 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy NADH6RPE 639 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy NADH6 TKT2 640 ADHEr LDH_D FUM PFLiTHD2 641 ADHEr LDH_D MDH PFLi THD2 642 ADHEr LDH_D NADH6 PFLi THD2 643ADHEr LDH_D PFLi SUCD4 644 ADHEr LDH_D NADH12 NADH6 PFLi 645 ADHEr LDH_DATPS4r NADH6 PFLi 646 ADHEr LDH_D FUM NADH6 PFLi 647 ADHEr LDH_D MDHNADH6 PFLi 648 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r NADH6 PGL 649 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r NADH6PGDH 650 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r G6PDHy NADH6 651 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r NADH6TAL 652 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r NADH6 TKT1 653 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 GLU5K NADH6PFLi 654 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 G5SD NADH6 PFLi 655 ADHEr LDH_D ASNS2 CBMK2NADH6 PFLi 656 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r PFLi THD2 657 ADHEr LDH_D NADH6 PFLi658 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r NADH6 RPE 659 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r NADH6 TKT2 660ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 FUM G5SD PFLi 661 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 GLU5K MDH PFLi 662ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 FUM GLU5K PFLi 663 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 G5SD MDH PFLi 664ADHEr LDH_D ASNS2 CBMK2 FUM PFLi 665 ADHEr LDH_D ASNS2 CBMK2 MDH PFLi666 ADHEr LDH_D MDH PFLi 667 ADHEr LDH_D FUM PFLi 668 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4rGLUDy PFLi RPE 669 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy PFLi TAL 670 ADHEr LDH_DATPS4r GLUDy PFLi TKT1 671 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy PFLi TKT2 672 ADHErLDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy PFLi 673 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy NADH6 674 ADHErLDH_D ATPS4r PFLi RPE 675 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r PFLi TAL 676 ADHEr LDH_DATPS4r PFLi TKT1 677 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r PFLi TKT2 678 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4rCBMK2 PFLi 679 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r PFLi 680 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT MDH PGDHYPYK 681 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT EDA MDH PYK 682 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r CBMK2 NADH6683 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r NADH6 684 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r HEX1 PGI PPS 685ADHEr LDH_D G6PDHy ME2 THD2 686 ADHEr LDH_D ME2 PGL THD2 687 ADHEr LDH_DME2 PGDH PGDHY THD2 688 ADHEr LDH_D EDA ME2 PGDH THD2 689 ADHEr LDH_DEDA ME2 TAL THD2 690 ADHEr LDH_D ME2 PGDHY TAL THD2 691 ADHEr LDH_D ME2PGDHY THD2 TKT1 692 ADHEr LDH_D EDA ME2 THD2 TKT1 693 ADHEr LDH_D ME2PGDHY RPE THD2 694 ADHEr LDH_D EDA ME2 RPE THD2 695 ADHEr LDH_D MDH PGLTHD2 696 ADHEr LDH_D G6PDHy MDH THD2 697 ADHEr LDH_D EDA MDH PGDH THD2698 ADHEr LDH_D MDH PGDH PGDHY THD2 699 ADHEr LDH_D ME2 PGDHY THD2 TKT2700 ADHEr LDH_D EDA ME2 THD2 TKT2 701 ADHEr LDH_D MDH PGDHY THD2 TKT1702 ADHEr LDH_D EDA MDH THD2 TKT1 703 ADHEr LDH_D MDH PGDHY TAL THD2 704ADHEr LDH_D EDA MDH TAL THD2 705 ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r GLUDy HEX1 PGI 706ADHEr LDH_D MDH PGDHY RPE THD2 707 ADHEr LDH_D EDA MDH RPE THD2 708ADHEr LDH_D MDH PGDHY THD2 TKT2 709 ADHEr LDH_D EDA MDH THD2 TKT2 710ADHEr LDH_D ATPS4r HEX1 PGI 711 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 HEX1 MDH PGI 712 ADHErLDH_D HEX1 MDH PGI SUCD4 713 ADHEr LDH_D HEX1 PGI SUCOAS 714 ADHEr LDH_DHEX1 MDH NADH6 PGI 715 ADHEr LDH_D FUM HEX1 NADH6 PGI 716 ADHEr LDH_DFRD2 FUM HEX1 PGI 717 ADHEr LDH_D HEX1 PGI 718 ADHEr LDH_D SUCOAS THD2719 ADHEr LDH_D THD2 720 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts SUCOAS TKT2 TPI 721 ADHErLDH_D GLCpts PFK SUCOAS TKT2 722 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLCpts SUCOAS TKT2 723ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy TKT2 TPI 724 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLCpts GLUDy TKT2725 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy PFK TKT2 726 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PGI SUCOAS727 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy PGI 728 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PFK RPE SUCOAS729 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts RPE SUCOAS TPI 730 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLCpts RPESUCOAS 731 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy RPE TPI 732 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLCptsGLUDy RPE 733 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy PFK RPE 734 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLUDySUCOAS TKT2 735 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PFK SUCOAS TKT2 736 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDySUCOAS TKT2 TPI 737 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy PFK SUCOAS 738 ADHEr LDH_DGLCpts GLUDy SUCOAS TPI 739 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLCpts GLUDy SUCOAS 740ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PFK TKT2 741 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLCpts TKT2 742 ADHErLDH_D GLCpts TKT2 TPI 743 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PGI SUCOAS 744 ADHEr LDH_DPGDHY PGI 745 ADHEr LDH_D EDA PGI 746 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PGI 747 ADHErLDH_D GLUDy PFK RPE SUCOAS 748 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy RPE SUCOAS TPI 749ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLUDy RPE SUCOAS 750 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts RPE TPI 751ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PFK RPE 752 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLCpts RPE 753 ADHErLDH_D PFK SUCOAS TKT2 754 ADHEr LDH_D FBA SUCOAS TKT2 755 ADHEr LDH_DSUCOAS TKT2 TPI 756 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts SUCOAS TPI 757 ADHEr LDH_D GLCptsPFK SUCOAS 758 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLCpts SUCOAS 759 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLCptsGLUDy 760 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy TPI 761 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy PFK762 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PFK TKT2 763 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLUDy TKT2 764 ADHErLDH_D GLUDy TKT2 TPI 765 ADHEr LDH_D PGI SUCOAS 766 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDyPGI 767 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT G6PDHy MDH PYK 768 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT MDH PGL PYK769 ADHEr LDH_D FBA RPE SUCOAS 770 ADHEr LDH_D PFK RPE SUCOAS 771 ADHErLDH_D RPE SUCOAS TPI 772 ADHEr LDH_D HEX1 PFK SUCOAS TKT1 773 ADHErLDH_D FBA HEX1 SUCOAS TAL 774 ADHEr LDH_D HEX1 PFK SUCOAS TAL 775 ADHErLDH_D HEX1 SUCOAS TKT1 TPI 776 ADHEr LDH_D FBA HEX1 SUCOAS TKT1 777ADHEr LDH_D HEX1 SUCOAS TAL TPI 778 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy RPE TPI 779 ADHErLDH_D FBA GLUDy RPE 780 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PFK RPE 781 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDyHEX1 TKT1 TPI 782 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy HEX1 PFK TKT1 783 ADHEr LDH_D FBAGLUDy HEX1 TKT1 784 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy HEX1 TAL TPI 785 ADHEr LDH_D FBAGLUDy HEX1 TAL 786 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy HEX1 PFK TAL 787 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDySUCOAS TPI 788 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PFK SUCOAS 789 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLUDySUCOAS 790 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 PYK SUCOAS TKT2 791 ADHEr LDH_D PYK SUCD4SUCOAS TKT2 792 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts TPI 793 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts PFK 794ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLCpts 795 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 GLUDy PYK TKT2 796 ADHErLDH_D GLUDy PYK SUCD4 TKT2 797 ADHEr LDH_D PFK TKT2 798 ADHEr LDH_D FBATKT2 799 ADHEr LDH_D TKT2 TPI 800 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 SUCOAS TAL TPI 801ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 FBA SUCOAS TAL 802 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 FBA SUCOAS TKT1803 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 PFK SUCOAS TAL 804 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 PFK SUCOASTKT1 805 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 SUCOAS TKT1 TPI 806 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 FBAHEX1 SUCOAS 807 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 HEX1 SUCOAS TPI 808 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2HEX1 PFK SUCOAS 809 ADHEr LDH_D PGI 810 ADHEr LDH_D HEX1 PFK TAL 811ADHEr LDH_D HEX1 TAL TPI 812 ADHEr LDH_D FBA HEX1 TAL 813 ADHEr LDH_DHEX1 PFK TKT1 814 ADHEr LDH_D HEX1 TKT1 TPI 815 ADHEr LDH_D FBA HEX1TKT1 816 ADHEr LDH_D PYK RPE SUCD4 SUCOAS 817 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 PYK RPESUCOAS 818 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 GLUDy PYK RPE 819 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PYK RPESUCD4 820 ADHEr LDH_D RPE TPI 821 ADHEr LDH_D PFK RPE 822 ADHEr LDH_DFBA RPE 823 ADHEr LDH_D SUCOAS TPI 824 ADHEr LDH_D PFK SUCOAS 825 ADHErLDH_D FBA SUCOAS 826 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy TPI 827 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLUDy 828ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PFK 829 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 GLUDy PYK SUCOAS 830 ADHErLDH_D GLUDy PYK SUCD4 SUCOAS 831 ADHEr LDH_D HEX1 MDH PFK SUCD4 832ADHEr LDH_D HEX1 MDH SUCD4 TPI 833 ADHEr LDH_D FBA HEX1 MDH SUCD4 834ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 HEX1 MDH TPI 835 ADHEr LDH_D FBA FRD2 HEX1 MDH 836ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 HEX1 MDH PFK 837 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 MDH TKT1 TPI 838ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 MDH TAL TPI 839 ADHEr LDH_D MDH PFK SUCD4 TKT1 840ADHEr LDH_D MDH PFK SUCD4 TAL 841 ADHEr LDH_D FBA MDH SUCD4 TKT1 842ADHEr LDH_D FBA MDH SUCD4 TAL 843 ADHEr LDH_D MDH SUCD4 TAL TPI 844ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 MDH PFK TKT1 845 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 MDH PFK TAL 846 ADHErLDH_D FBA FRD2 MDH TAL 847 ADHEr LDH_D MDH SUCD4 TKT1 TPI 848 ADHErLDH_D FBA FRD2 MDH TKT1 849 ADHEr LDH_D PYK SUCD4 TKT2 850 ADHEr LDH_DFRD2 PYK TKT2 851 ADHEr LDH_D FDH2 NADH6 PYK TKT2 852 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2PFK TAL 853 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 TAL TPI 854 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 FBA TKT1 855ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 TKT1 TPI 856 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 FBA TAL 857 ADHEr LDH_DCBMK2 PFK TKT1 858 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 HEX1 PFK 859 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 HEX1TPI 860 ADHEr LDH_D CBMK2 FBA HEX1 861 ADHEr LDH_D GLU5K TAL TPI 862ADHEr LDH_D G5SD TAL TPI 863 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLU5K TKT1 864 ADHEr LDH_DG5SD TKT1 TPI 865 ADHEr LDH_D G5SD PFK TKT1 866 ADHEr LDH_D GLU5K PFKTAL 867 ADHEr LDH_D FBA G5SD TAL 868 ADHEr LDH_D FBA G5SD TKT1 869 ADHErLDH_D G5SD PFK TAL 870 ADHEr LDH_D GLU5K TKT1 TPI 871 ADHEr LDH_D GLU5KPFK TKT1 872 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLU5K TAL 873 ADHEr LDH_D GLU5K HEX1 TPI874 ADHEr LDH_D GLU5K HEX1 PFK 875 ADHEr LDH_D G5SD HEX1 PFK 876 ADHErLDH_D FBA G5SD HEX1 877 ADHEr LDH_D FBA GLU5K HEX1 878 ADHEr LDH_D G5SDHEX1 TPI 879 ADHEr LDH_D ASNS2 PFK TKT1 880 ADHEr LDH_D ASNS2 TKT1 TPI881 ADHEr LDH_D ASNS2 PFK TAL 882 ADHEr LDH_D ASNS2 FBA TKT1 883 ADHErLDH_D ASNS2 FBA TAL 884 ADHEr LDH_D ASNS2 TAL TPI 885 ADHEr LDH_D ASNS2HEX1 PFK 886 ADHEr LDH_D ASNS2 FBA HEX1 887 ADHEr LDH_D ASNS2 HEX1 TPI888 ADHEr LDH_D PYK SUCD4 SUCOAS TKT1 889 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 PYK SUCOASTAL 890 ADHEr LDH_D PYK SUCD4 SUCOAS TAL 891 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 PYK SUCOASTKT1 892 ADHEr LDH_D PYK RPE SUCD4 893 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 PYK RPE 894ADHEr LDH_D FDH2 NADH6 PYK RPE 895 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy MDH PYK TKT2 896ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDy PYK TKT2 897 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy SUCOAS TKT2898 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy PYK SUCD4 899 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 GLUDy PYK 900 ADHErLDH_D FDH2 GLUDy NADH6 PYK 901 ADHEr LDH_D FBA 902 ADHEr LDH_D TPI 903ADHEr LDH_D PFK 904 ADHEr LDH_D PYK SUCD4 SUCOAS 905 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2PYK SUCOAS 906 ADHEr LDH_D FDH2 NADH6 PYK SUCOAS 907 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2ME2 PGDHY PYK 908 ADHEr LDH_D EDA FRD2 ME2 PYK 909 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 ME2PGL PYK 910 ADHEr LDH_D EDA ME2 PYK SUCD4 911 ADHEr LDH_D ME2 PGDHY PYKSUCD4 912 ADHEr LDH_D ME2 PGL PYK SUCD4 913 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 G6PDHy ME2PYK 914 ADHEr LDH_D G6PDHy ME2 PYK SUCD4 915 ADHEr LDH_D MDH NADH6 PGDHYPYK 916 ADHEr LDH_D MDH PGL PYK SUCD4 917 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 MDH PGL PYK918 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 MDH PGDHY PYK 919 ADHEr LDH_D G6PDHy MDH PYK SUCD4920 ADHEr LDH_D MDH NADH6 PGL PYK 921 ADHEr LDH_D EDA FRD2 MDH PYK 922ADHEr LDH_D EDA MDH PYK SUCD4 923 ADHEr LDH_D MDH PGDHY PYK SUCD4 924ADHEr LDH_D EDA MDH NADH6 PYK 925 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 G6PDHy MDH PYK 926ADHEr LDH_D G6PDHy MDH NADH6 PYK 927 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy MDH PYK RPE 928ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDy PYK RPE 929 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2 PYK TAL 930 ADHErLDH_D PYK SUCD4 TKT1 931 ADHEr LDH_D PYK SUCD4 TAL 932 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2PYK TKT1 933 ADHEr LDH_D FDH2 NADH6 PYK TAL 934 ADHEr LDH_D FDH2 NADH6PYK TKT1 935 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy RPE SUCOAS 936 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDyMDH PYK SUCOAS 937 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDy PYK SUCOAS 938 ADHEr LDH_D FUMGLUDy NADH6 PYK 939 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy MDH NADH6 PYK 940 ADHEr LDH_DGLCpts SUCOAS TKT2 941 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy SUCOAS TKT2 942 ADHEr LDH_DASPT MDH PYK TKT2 943 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FUM PYK TKT2 944 ADHEr LDH_D FRD2PYK 945 ADHEr LDH_D PYK SUCD4 946 ADHEr LDH_D FDH2 NADH6 PYK 947 ADHErLDH_D GLCpts GLUDy TKT2 948 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy SUCOAS TAL 949ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy SUCOAS TKT1 950 ADHEr LDH_D FUM GLUDy PYK 951ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy MDH PYK 952 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts RPE SUCOAS 953 ADHErLDH_D ASPT FUM PYK RPE 954 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT MDH PYK RPE 955 ADHEr LDH_DGLUDy RPE SUCOAS 956 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy RPE 957 ADHEr LDH_D ASPTFUM PYK SUCOAS 958 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT MDH PYK SUCOAS 959 ADHEr LDH_DGLCpts GLUDy SUCOAS 960 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FUM NADH6 PYK 961 ADHEr LDH_DASPT MDH NADH6 PYK 962 ADHEr LDH_D SUCOAS TKT2 963 ADHEr LDH_D GLCptsTKT2 964 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT MDH PYK TKT1 965 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FUM PYK TAL966 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT MDH PYK TAL 967 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FUM PYK TKT1 968ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts SUCOAS TAL 969 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts SUCOAS TKT1 970ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy TKT2 971 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy TKT1 972 ADHEr LDH_DGLCpts GLUDy TAL 973 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy SUCOAS TKT1 974 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDySUCOAS TAL 975 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT MDH PYK 976 ADHEr LDH_D ASPT FUM PYK 977ADHEr LDH_D RPE SUCOAS 978 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts RPE 979 ADHEr LDH_D GLCptsSUCOAS 980 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy RPE 981 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts GLUDy 982 ADHErLDH_D GLUDy SUCOAS 983 ADHEr LDH_D TKT2 984 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts TAL 985ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts TKT1 986 ADHEr LDH_D SUCOAS TAL 987 ADHEr LDH_DSUCOAS TKT1 988 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy TKT1 989 ADHEr LDH_D GLUDy TAL 990ADHEr LDH_D RPE 991 ADHEr LDH_D GLCpts 992 ADHEr LDH_D SUCOAS 993 ADHErLDH_D GLUDy 994 ADHEr LDH_D TAL 995 ADHEr LDH_D TKT1

TABLE 2 A list of all the reaction stoichiometries and the associatedgenes known to be associated with the reactions identified fordisruption in the strategies listed in Tables 1. Reaction AbbreviationReaction Name Reaction Stoichiometry Assigned Genes ACKr acetate kinase[c] : ac + atp <==> actp + adp b2296, b3115 ADHEr acetaldehyde-CoA [c] :accoa + (2) h + (2) nadh b1241 dehydrogenase <==> coa + etoh + (2) nadAKGD 2-oxoglutarate [c] : akg + coa + nad → co2 + b0727, b0726, b0116dehydrogenase nadh + succoa ALAR alanine racemase [c] : ala-L <==> ala-Db4053 ASNS2 asparagine synthetase [c] : asp-L + atp + nh4 → amp + b3744asn-L + h + ppi ASPT L-aspartase [c] : asp-L → fum + nh4 b4139 ATPS4rATP synthase (four protons adp[c] + (4) h[e] + pi[c] <==> b3738 +b3736 + b3737, b3739, for one ATP) atp[c] + (3) h[c] + h2o[c] b3734 +b3732 + b3735 + b3733 + b3731 CBMK2 Carbamate kinase [c] : atp + co2 +nh4 → adp + b0323, b0521, b2874 cbp + (2) h DAAD D-Amino acid [c] :ala-D + fad + h2o → fadh2 + b1189 dehydrogenase nh4 + pyr EDA2-dehydro-3-deoxy- [c] : 2ddg6p → g3p + pyr b1850 phosphogluconatealdolase FBA fructose-bisphosphate [c] : fdp <==> dhap + g3p b1773,b2097, b2925 aldolase FDH2 formate dehydrogenase for[c] + (3) h[c] +ubq8[c] → b3893 + b3894 + b3892, (quinone-8: 2 protons) co2[c] + (2)h[e] + ubq8h2[c] b1476 + b1475 + b1474, b4079 FRD2 fumarate reductase[c] : fum + mql8 → mqn8 + b4153 + b4152 + b4151 + b4154 succ FUMfumarase [c] : fum + h2o <==> mal-L b1612, b4122, b1611 G5SDglutamate-5-semialdehyde [c] : glu5p + h + nadph → b0243 dehydrogenaseglu5sa + nadp + pi G6PDHy glucose 6-phosphate [c] : g6p + nadp <==>6pgl + b1852 dehydrogenase h + nadph GLCpts D-glucose transport viaglc-D[e] + pep[c]→ g6p[c] + b1817, b1818, b2417, b1621, PEP:Pyr PTSpyr[c] b2416, b1819, b1101, b2415 GLU5K glutamate 5-kinase [c] : atp +glu-L → adp + glu5p b0242 GLUDy glutamate dehydrogenase [c] : glu-L +h2o + nadp <==> b1761 (NADP) akg + h + nadph + nh4 HEX1 hexokinase(D-glucose:ATP) [c] : atp + glc-D → adp + g6p + b2388 h ICL Isocitratelyase [c] : icit → glx + succ b4015 LDH _D D-lactate dehydrogenase [c] :lac-D + nad <==> h + nadh + b2133, b1380 pyr MALS malate synthase [c] :accoa + glx + h2o → coa + b4014, b2976 h + mal-L MDH malatedehydrogenase [c] : mal-L + nad <==> h + b3236 nadh + oaa ME2 malicenzyme (NADP) [c] : mal-L + nadp → co2 + b2463 nadph + pyr NADH12 NADHdehydrogenase [c] : h + nadh + ubq8 → nad + b1109 (ubiquinone-8 ) ubq8h2NADH6 NADH dehydrogenase (4.5) h[c] + nadh[c] + b2288 + b2277 + b2285 +b2278+ (ubiquinone-8 & 3.5 protons) ubq8[c] → (3.5) h[e] + b2276 +b2286 + b2287 + b2279+ nad[c] + ubq8h2[c] b2280 + b2284 + b2283 + b2282+b2281 PFK phosphofructokinase [c] : atp + f6p → adp + fdp + h b3916,b1723 PFLi pyruvate formate lyase [c] : coa + pyr → accoa + for b3114,b3951 + b3952, b0902 + b2579 + b0903 PGDH phosphogluconate [c] : 6pgc +nadp → co2 + b2029 dehydrogenase nadph + ru5p-D PGDHY phosphogluconate[c] : 6pgc → 2ddg6p + h2o b1851 dehydratase PGI glucose-6-phosphate [c]: g6p <==> f6p b4025 isomerase PGL 6-phosphogluconolactonase [c] : 6pgl+h2o → 6pgc + h b0767 PPS phosphoenolpyruvate [c] : atp + h2o + pyr →amp + b1702 synthase (2) h + pep + pi PRO1z proline oxidase [c] : fad +pro-L → 1pyr5c + b1014 fadh2 + h PTAr phosphotransacetylase [c] :accoa + pi <==> actp + b2297 coa PYK pyruvate kinase [c] : adp + h + pep→ atp + pyr b1854, b1676 RPE ribulose 5-phosphate 3- [c] : ru5p-D <==>xu5p-D b4301, b3386 epimerase SUCD4 succinate dehyrdogenase [c] :fadh2 + ubq8 <==> fad + b0723 + b0721 + b0724 + b0722 ubq8h2 SUCOASsuccinyl-CoA synthetase [c] : atp + coa + succ <==> adp + b0729 + b0728(ADP-forming) pi + succoa TAL transaldolase [c] : g3p + s7p <==> e4p +f6p b2464, b0008 THD2 NAD(P) transhydrogenase (2) h[e] + nadh[c] +nadp[c] → b1602 + b1603 (2) h[c] + nad[c] + nadph[c] TKT1 transketolase[c] : r5p + xu5p-D <==> g3p + b2935, b2465 s7p TKT2 transketolase [c] :e4p + xu5p-D <==> f6p + b2935, b2465 g3p TPI those-phosphate isomerase[c] : dhap <==> g3p b3919

TABLE 3 List of the metabolite abbreviations, the corresponding namesand locations of all the metabolites that participate in the reactionslisted in Table 2. Metabolite Abbreviation Compartment Metabolite Name1pyr5c Cytosol 1-Pyrroline-5-carboxylate 2ddg6p Cytosol2-Dehydro-3-deoxy-D-gluconate 6-phosphate 6pgc Cytosol6-Phospho-D-gluconate 6pgl Cytosol 6-phospho-D-glucono-1,5-lactone acCytosol Acetate accoa Cytosol Acetyl-CoA actp Cytosol Acetyl phosphateadp Cytosol ADP akg Cytosol 2-Oxoglutarate ala-D Cytosol D-Alanine ala-LCytosol L-Alanine amp Cytosol AMP asn-L Cytosol L-Asparagine asp-LCytosol L-Aspartate atp Cytosol ATP cbp Cytosol Carbamoyl phosphate citCytosol Citrate co2 Cytosol CO2 coa Cytosol Coenzyme A ctp Cytosol CTPdha Cytosol Dihydroxyacetone dhap Cytosol Dihydroxyacetone phosphate e4pCytosol D-Erythrose 4-phosphate etoh Cytosol Ethanol f6p CytosolD-Fructose 6-phosphate fad Cytosol FAD fadh2 Cytosol FADH2 fdp CytosolD-Fructose 1,6-bisphosphate for Cytosol Formate fum Cytosol Fumarate g3pCytosol Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate g6p Cytosol D-Glucose 6-phosphateglc-D Cytosol D-Glucose glc-D[e] Extra-organism D-Glucose glu5p CytosolL-Glutamate 5-phosphate glu5sa Cytosol L-Glutamate 5-semialdehyde glu-LCytosol L-Glutamate glx Cytosol Glyoxylate h Cytosol H+ h[e]Extra-organism H+ h2 Cytosol H2 h2o Cytosol H2O icit Cytosol Isocitratek Cytosol K+ lac-D Cytosol D-Lactate mal-L Cytosol L-Malate mql8 CytosolMenaquinol 8 mqn8 Cytosol Menaquinone 8 nad Cytosol Nicotinamide adeninedinucleotide nadh Cytosol Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-reduced nadpCytosol Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate nadph CytosolNicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-reduced nh4 Cytosol Ammoniumo2 Cytosol O2 oaa Cytosol Oxaloacetate pep Cytosol Phosphoenolpyruvatepi Cytosol Phosphate ppi Cytosol Diphosphate pro-L Cytosol L-Proline pyrCytosol Pyruvate r5p Cytosol alpha-D-Ribose 5-phosphate ru5p-D CytosolD-Ribulose 5-phosphate s7p Cytosol Sedoheptulose 7-phosphate succCytosol Succinate succoa Cytosol Succinyl-CoA ubq8 Cytosol Ubiquinone-8ubq8h2 Cytosol Ubiquinol-8 xu5p-D Cytosol D-Xylulose 5-phosphate

Although the invention has been described with reference to thedisclosed embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily appreciatethat the specific examples and studies detailed above are onlyillustrative of the invention. It should be understood that variousmodifications can be made without departing from the spirit of theinvention. Accordingly, the invention is limited only by the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A non-naturally occurring eukaryotic organism,comprising at least two gene disruptions, wherein said at least two genedisruptions comprise a first gene disruption occurring in a gene thatencodes an enzyme selected from the group consisting of a cytosolicpyruvate decarboxylase, a mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase, acytosolic ethanol-specific alcohol dehydrogenase and a mitochondrialethanol-specific alcohol dehydrogenase, and a second gene disruptionoccurring in a gene that encodes an enzyme selected from the groupconsisting of a cytosolic malate dehydrogenase, a glycerol-3-phosphatedehydrogenase shuttle, an external NADH dehydrogenase, and an internalmitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase, and wherein said at least two genedisruptions confers production of long chain alcohols in the cytosol ofsaid organism.
 2. The organism of claim 1, wherein production of longchain alcohols is growth-coupled.
 3. The organism of claim 1, whereinproduction of long chain alcohols is not growth-coupled.
 4. The organismof claim 1, wherein said organism is a yeast or a fungus, and whereinsaid one or more gene disruptions are in a gene selected from the groupconsisting of YLR044C, YLR134W, YGRO87C, PDC3, YNL071W, YER178W,YBR221C, YGR193C, YFLO18C, YBR145W, YGL256W, YOL086C, YMR303, YMR083W,YPL088W, YAL061W, YMR318C, YCR105W, and YDL168W.
 5. The organism ofclaim 1, wherein said one or more gene disruptions comprises a deletionof said one or more genes.
 6. The organism of claim 1, wherein saidorganism is a yeast or a fungus.
 7. The organism of claim 6, whereinsaid yeast is selected from the group consisting of Saccharomyces spp.,Kluyveromyces spp., and Pichia spp.
 8. The organism of claim 7, whereinsaid yeast is Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
 9. The organism of claim 6,wherein said fungus is selected from the group consisting of Aspergillusspp., and Rhizopus spp.
 10. A method for producing long chain alcohols,comprising culturing a non-naturally occurring eukaryotic organismaccording to claim
 1. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein said organismis a yeast or a fungus, and wherein said one or more gene disruptionsare in a gene selected from the group consisting of YLR044C, YLR134W,YGR087C, PDC3, YNL071W, YER178W, YBR221C, YGR193C, YFLO18C, YBR145W,YGL256W, YOL086C, YMR303, YMR083W, YPL088W, YAL061W, YMR318C, YCR105W,and YDL168W.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein said strain is culturedin a substantially anaerobic medium.
 13. The method of claim 10, whereinsaid one or more gene disruptions comprises a deletion of said one ormore genes.
 14. The method of claim 10, wherein said organism is a yeastor a fungus, and wherein said one or more gene disruptions are in a geneselected from the group consisting of YOL126C, YDL022W, YOL059W,YIL155C, YMR145C, YDL085W, and YML120C.
 15. The method of claim 10,further comprising an exogenous nucleic acid encoding an enzyme in thecytosol selected from the group consisting of an acetyl-CoA synthetase(AMP-forming), an ADP-dependent acetate-CoA ligase, an acylatingacetaldehyde dehydrogenase, a pyruvate dehydrogenase, a pyruvate:NADPoxidoreductase, and a pyruvate formate lyase; or a gene regulatoryregion thereof.
 16. The method of claim 10, wherein said organism is ayeast or a fungus.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein said yeast isselected from the group consisting of Saccharomyces spp., Kluyveromycesspp., and Pichia spp.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein said yeast isSaccharomyces cerevisiae.
 19. The method of claim 16, wherein saidfungus is selected from the group consisting of Aspergillus spp., andRhizopus spp.